To My Parents

I remember how I used to smell your hair when I was a baby, on your shoulders.

I never liked it, but I sniffed it every time. Like I couldn’t help touching 

the hot sides of the toaster. Or staring at the sun. 

II

One day it came to me

That I am not like

Other people. Like

Running to see the moon like

It was a secret.

Memories of a Forgotten Sister

 I hollered, “You’ll catch your death!”

You cried, “Who cares?” like some whippet,

Dashing through them cotton fields with your hair wild.

I followed behind, like I do.

I pretend to be angry when you laugh at me, but

I’m always kind of pleased to amuse you.

Sometimes when you’re scrubbing by the sink and I pass by, you shout,

“Wash your face!” and flick water in my eyes so quick I freeze (and kick your leg and run away).

Three Elegies for Stargazing With You

I always associated you with sky, because the times you came alive were starlit nights. You’d wake me on especially beautiful evenings, and I wouldn’t resist. We’d stand outside with our bare feet padding chilly on the grass and your arm around me.

 -

I loved you because

You woke me at odd hours and never expected me to

Complain. So I didn’t. We watched the planets spin, and the orange flame

Burn across the rooftops.

-

For half an hour we didn’t say a word.

I shivered in your dirty coat and watched my damp breath

Cling against the sky. Finally you said,

“We don’t know nothing,” and I said,

“You’re right.”

Our Early

You said,
They’ll never love me for my face, and I said, 

I will love you for your face.

And you lay your head in the bend 

of my arm and I told you 

the old reasons. You retched

the kind of moans one heaves 

in pain or tears. But you grew still.

I thought you slept - 

then,
thank you,

soft as dawn.

That was how we whispered 

when your skin was raw 

and blistered and your sleep so fragile 

it was was broken by 

a shaft of light.

I

"White flowers are the most fragrant,"
She said.
Her eyes. 

Have You

Have you given me permission to be very brave?
Your leaves have opened inches since
This morning.