raven-haired crusader, Mom, invincible
with multiple income streams, parenting
kids appropriately raised in wholesome
rural area, not divorced, parochial
school values, appropriate actions taken
in response to trouble, all
well adapted, future like their
past – pause – passed by, pissed,
pressed, praying, prey, passed it
on, the legacy iron wrought

my uncle, now he’s on
the other side, still probably
something of a scamp there –
no longer sickly, nor tied
down to work, church, wife
and kids, kids, kids, and
he can wear yellow pants
any time he wants! even
to funerals (if they have
them on the other side)

one of three – children in the family
one of two – twins, a girl and boy
two of one – her birth name Nina
one squared – living in the shadow of another rose
one of zero – flirting with oblivion
one on one – struggling with herself
one of shadows – seeking love and health

girl cousins, my aunt’s baby
dolls, you could dress them
up so cute and perm
their golden hair and send
out pictures, this was good

from gloomy, femininity-challenged,
Northern nornside of the family,
we watched their sunny lives
unfold like LA lemon trees,
very pretty, flowers oh so sweet

did her mother worry? this
girl was accident prone, litany
of bandaged incidents – skinned knees,
poison ivy, dragged by a car,
her coat caught in the door –
we were sort of friends, connected
through our personal fogs –
she drove me home half
blind (forgotten glasses),
I was fine with that

named for light and life,
the last in a long chorus
line of children, and a
blessing to her parents
in their new age life of
pickup trucks and mountain
homes – this was no fairy
tale, she couldn’t break
the spell cast on those wild
swans, she didn’t even try

opal lit with shifting clouds
of gloom, he was never optimistic,
even though he looked like
Nureyev, had friends, health
and every opportunity –
I wanted to like him, but he
was so formal it didn’t
seem like he had parents,
so brittle no one dared
to challenge his pearl shell