:dear sister:

Dear Sister, how have the years been
with us not quite speaking, but bumping into the paths
that our undirected communications have left?
On occasion, I remember that my closet contains
elements of your childhood before mine
the years that you've forgotten now.
There's a flowered skirt which now has three holes in it
{endlessly repaired}
that you pulled out of your bottom drawer when I was three.
And the plaid shirt that was old when you received it
and now worn too soft to keep the button clasps.
And a hundred other things, all with age-inflicted comfort
as if there were pockets of love under the patches.

date:October 2, 2007
Another Creative Writing assignment: write a letter in poem form.
Everything in this one is true, except with the obvious exaggeration of "a hundred other things".