Things Said to the Carload of Queer Teens Who Prank Called the Christian Hotline, Pretending to Be the Distraught Mother of a Child Who Recently Came Out as Gay
Oh dear God.1
There’s no2
hope.3
______________________________________
1I was raised to believe
taking the Lord’s name in vain
meant letting an omigod slip
even in the valleygirl 90s
& although I no longer
believe, it still surprises me
to hear that language
on the Jesus hotline.
2What there’s none of
out here in rural Texas
is bathrooms
I can let the kids
enter unescorted
without panic rising
like bile in my throat
every time a pickup truck
pulls into the parking lot.
3When I glance
in the rearview mirror
I’m filled with so much
fucking hope I could cry.
Their ease of language,
their multicolored nails,
how hard they laugh
before hanging up
on the guy who just tried
to condemn them to hell.
Julia Ross (she/her) is an emerging poet and educator living in Austin, TX. She writes about parenthood, agnosticism, art & music, and the sociopolitical hellscape known as Texas. Recently, her writing has appeared in The New Verse News, The Marbled Sigh, About Place Journal, and elsewhere.
The Marbled Sigh 