For a Sibling
Sister come close and remember with me.
Dusk on the railway, dress up, mom and dad,
Corner shop porn mags we found in the woods,
The fairy tales of protective brothers.
Chapter one of what they didn’t read us
Said something about a little monster.
We always thought we were being funny,
But she didn’t come back after that day.
They should have been direct and just told us.
Was it there in the drawings, the cartoons?
All by ourselves from morning until dark,
Am I right that they should have just told us?
Do you not remember we were happy,
Children of traditional modern times.
Lives come undone; we don’t have to know why.
Just be with me and tell me who you are.
-Brad on the Upper West Side (search phrase “when we were little”)