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Like fireflies
And while I write they spin around me like fireflies lighting up the darkness that surrounds me. Each word on the page pulls me further and closer to you, sister, and I break back into reality for a quick second when she approaches me with a book to read or he drops another bucket into his basketball hoop and the vibration shakes me back here and now.
They are dreamlike in appearance and fill me with joy when they enter my atmosphere. I know them as little creatures who will be small for this tiny window of time before they grow up and away and use their light to brighten up the entire world.
But for this brief moment of time, they are mine and selfishly I keep them close to shield me from the storm that erupts on the page when I think of what happened to you.
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Who would you be?
Who would you be
If you didn’t throw cold spaghetti
Into my hair at dinner
How would I laugh
If you weren’t there
Staring at me with your two teeth smile
Your hair is wild and your eyes are wide
Shaped like a strong woman who came before you
You are teaching me, so concretely and consistently, to not take myself seriously
Or, anything at all
You turn a tense moment into belly laughter in a blink of an eye
Navigating this life with humor way beyond your three years
A shapeshifter
Pirate armed with a diaper cannon
Black belt ju jitsu master pinning your brother to the ground
Hair monster to avoid eating dinner
Cowgirl on an invisible horsey bah dah bah dah bah dah
Ayahuasca hippie in a hut chanting “guacamole”
I always know where you’ve been
because when you leave a room
You leave laughter in the air