Mythili
you start off
the 7-8-9 club
weaving in and out of rocks
your memorized lyrics giving way
to a new generation of song
Isabella
always in charge
you lead two-year-old cousins
on adventures far too grand
for any grown-up to understand
Riona
cousinly love
brings you out of your shell
all day at the beach
your words free for everyone
at fifty pounds each
girls spin them around the room
spin my dream come true
my girls stand in front
the last time I’ll see Gorham
my childhood, my home
my grandmother’s sauce
passed down to a new era
her son now the chef
Maine beaches of youth
please a new generation
cousin love abounds
we cross the state line
Connecticut, once her home
instant rain breaks me
coin in gold fountain
M’s futile Central Park wish:
let us go to Spain
sycamore background
leads to multiracial swings
Jersey touching soul
I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers
a year ago
a lifetime ago
i stood on this same step
i rang this same doorbell
i retrieved these same girls
i hardly knew you
i stood awkwardly
in your living room
trying to explain my taste in music
you cringed when i said folk
(perhaps you’d cry too
the first time you
heard their song on the radio)
we’ve made music since then
sometimes heavy metal
sometimes hip hop
just a taste of alternative
but you still haven’t heard my song
i stand on your doorstep now
you won’t answer so i walk in
(it is like home to me)
i pull them out of the room
three in a row, sleepy-eyed,
begging for breakfast
(they are starving)
you open your door
sleepy-eyed too
and there are no words
there are no lyrics
that can fall to the floor
in this awkward living room stance
as i shuffle our lives out the door
my grandma’s birthday
used to mean more than sadness
more than passing thought
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