At My Mother’s Funeral, My Cousin Tells Me I Have a Sister
Rent from DeepDyve- At My Mother’s Funeral, My Cousin Tells Me I Have a Sister
Sometimes I see a middle-aged woman in the shadow of a monkey puzzle tree. Sometimes I memorize the nighttime syntax of a poet reading to herself. Sometimes I dream about three kisses and the code for first night.
We were given away, Sister—our brief mother handed me through the doorway to my new family. They carried me over the threshold like a tiny bride, everything sweet milk white.
If I had a goddess, she would ask me to write about hunger. Even if I wasn’t her favorite—write about hunger, she’d say, a tricky-eyed goddess, strong boned, partial, a big wind over my pinot noir sea.
I want to write an anthem for the right ventricle of your heart, Sister. I want to study the three creases in your left thumb.
If I had a goddess, Sister, I imagine her telling me, [End Page 169] There are nine roads on any atlas, the first one named forsaken, the last one always paved in bone.
The Persians sent their loved ones to the afterlife with a pearl in the palm of each hand.
Oh Sister, be somewhere still, somewhere east of my imagination. [End Page 170]
Colette Tennant’s first book of poetry, Commotion of Wings, was published by Main Street Rag in 2010 as an Editor’s Choice. Her second poetry book, Eden and After, was published by Tebot Bach. Her poems have appeared in journals including Rattle and Southern Poetry Review, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She also enjoys writing music.
