The following poem by Johnny Longfellow was originally published at The Sonnetarium, a now defunct online imprint of Rhythm & Bones Press. It was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Both the poem and the interview that accompanied it were removed from the Rhythm & Bones website¹ without explanation.² We’re republishing the poem as part of an ongoing series of unpublished (and otherwise censored) works.

Leavin’ Springersville

I

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s so in love;
Her Bubba’s all she’s thinkin’ of—
Tonight, they’ll dance an’ drink red wine.
It’s prom night, 1999.

She’s been with him since freshman year
When he first offered her a beer
Out at a kegger, ‘neath the light
O’ stars that glowed one Friday night.

He’d said back then that with God’s luck
An’ real hard work he’d buy a truck—
An eighteen-wheeler, his alone,
Like both ‘er pa ‘n’ uncle own.

Tonight, she’s dolled up in a gown
An’ oh so slowly strollin’ down
The stairs to meet ‘er waitin’ beau,
Watchin’ ‘er hobble there below . . .

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s so in love;
Her Bubba’s all she’s thinkin’ of—
She thinks ‘is mullet looks real fine.
It’s prom night, 1999.

II

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s dressed in white
On this, their shotgun weddin’ night,
Where two for one, they honeymoon
In Vegas ‘roun the end o’ June.

Rotatin’ on a heart-shaped bed
With mirrors jus’ above ‘er head
She listens to ‘er Bubba snore
While strobe-lights flicker ‘long the floor.

Bored stiff, she goes an’ surfs the tube
Catchin’ an ad for Jiffy Lube,
An’ then, a Springer rerun plays;
Its theme: “My Sleazy Husband’s Ways . . . ”

Her eyes fixed on that T.V. screen
She sees ol’ Steve step in between
Two fat chicks in a spittin’ rage
Catfightin’ up on Jerry’s stage.

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s dressed in white
On this, their shotgun weddin’ night,
Hearin’—as hearts git torn in half—
How folk who watch jus’ love to laugh.

III

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s got it rough—
Sometimes she thinks she’s had enough
O’ all ‘er man’s carousin’ ‘roun
Them long, long nights he’s out o’ town.

Her girlfriends bring their kids to play
With hers, mos’ ev’ry holiday
When school’s let out, so that she must
Vacuum ‘er trailer, mop ‘n’ dust.

This Veteran’s Day, they watch a soap
Where Lindsey loses all ‘er hope
O’ ever keepin’ her sweet Lance
From pokin’ ‘roun in Whitney’s pants.

That’s when she sees Belinda wink
At Cindy Jo, who starts to blink,
An’ with a slight twitch of ‘er lip
Blows on ‘er coffee, takes a sip.

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s got it rough—
Sometimes she thinks enough’s enough,
But what in Hell’s she s’posed to do
With Bubba Jr., barely two?

IV

Po’ Bobby Sue, she used to write
Love poetry mos’ ev’ry night
Her beau was gone, bearin’ ‘is load
Out on some fog-filled, crooked road.

Takin’ ‘em down from off their shelf,
She finds she hates to read ‘erself,
Since now, through older, wiser eyes
There’s oh so much to criticize:

Her lines jus’ like a metronome
Each count the seconds ‘til he’s home,
An’ damn ‘em all, if they don’t rhyme
The same fool way, time after time . . .

What’s more, each stanza like a box
Chock full o’ sixteen, tiny clocks
Ooze with ‘er gushin’, teenage heart
As if they’re ‘bout to burst apart.

Po’ Bobby Sue, she used to write
Love poetry mos’ ev’ry night—
She wrote them words best as she could,
But now she sees they ain’t no good.

V

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s left it all
To burn in Hell, to rot ‘n’ fall,
‘Cause Hell is where ‘er cheatin’ beau
Can share a bed with Cindy Jo.

Framed in ‘er rearview, in the dark
She’s sees a dwindlin’ trailer park
Wrapped in them flames ‘er hands ‘d set
After she dyed ‘er hair brunette.

An’ closer still, strapped in the back
Lookin’ out on a railroad track,
She sees ‘er Bubba Jr. stare
Straight at the dark, without a care.

Then Bwam! she slams the pedal down
Leavin’ behin’ that damned ol’ town
To fin’ ‘erself a better life
Than that o’ some fool, trucker’s wife.

Po’ Bobby Sue, she’s left it all
To burn in Hell, to rot ‘n’ fall,
‘Cause Hell, she’s fin’lly foun’ the will
To bust on out o’ Springersville.

1. Screenshots of the original version of the poem and the interview can be found at Longfellow’s personal website, Midnight Lane Boutique, along with more information about the circumstances surrounding the poem’s [un]publication.
2. We reached out to Rhythm & Bones Press via email to give them an opportunity to comment on their decision, but did not receive a response.
   
   Update: We received the following response from Tianna G. of Rhythm & Bones Press after this post was published:
   
   “I did not intentionally censor Johnny Longfellow or his work. His poem was removed from my website because it was part of a defunct publication called The Sonnetarium, which I hosted on my site as a favor for its editor Kristin Garth. It was not connected with Rhythm & Bones Press, and operated as a separate entity. While updating my site, I removed the pages which hosted The Sonnetarium, thus deleting access to what had been published there. I have spoken with Kristin who understands the circumstances which caused me to remove the defunct section from my site. “
   
   Update #2: We followed up with Longfellow to give him a chance to comment on the statement from Rhythm & Bones. His response follows:
   
   “Shortly after noticing the interview/poem was removed, I too was in touch with Kristin. She alerted me to the fact that other posts remained public via a link. So, that is to say, the poem/interview was removed, while other Sonnetarium posts remained public, during the time that Tianna alleges she was “updating” the site. At my site, I reference two posts, showing not all Sonnetarium posts were removed at the time that “Leavin’ Springersville” disappeared. Both were operable two days ago, when Misery Tourism republished “Leavin’ Springersville.” And, to prove that, here are the cache versions of both, as snapshotted by Google on 2/21/2020 and Bing, after my interview and poem were intentionally deplatformed in January: Google Full, Google Source (with date), and Bing Full. A full rebuttal—with further evidence to show the interview and poem were intentionally deplaformed—can be read here at Midnight Lane Boutique.“