The Dead Sister's Guide to Feeling
Alive
- Thea Erwin
Do not eat poultry,
instead take feathers from
the small chicken backs and sew
them into your own— use Crest Glide floss if
you can’t find any thread.
When your mother goes to sleep
after two too many re-runs of Roseanne,
pull her grandma-given afghan close to her
wrist-thin neck but try not to chafe her skin.
Find her make-up bag, third shelf
in the cabinet above the sink, a little
to the left, behind her second thyroid medicine.
Attempt to avoid your mirror-eye, and remember
everyone has some dark bags under there sometimes,
everyone gets a little tired sometimes.
Peel off any loosely hanging skin, wrap them in toilet paper,
smooth salmon-coated bristles across still-arched cheek bones.
trim your nails, cut them into small straight squares.
Use both hands to push open your sister’s door--
it swells stuck to the floor boards at night.
She will not be home – she is never home,
like you were never home.
Find the dress you gave her 4 years ago, with
slim floral print on its full skirt,
it will still fit.
Remind yourself that you were here first.
- Thea Erwin
Do not eat poultry,
instead take feathers from
the small chicken backs and sew
them into your own— use Crest Glide floss if
you can’t find any thread.
When your mother goes to sleep
after two too many re-runs of Roseanne,
pull her grandma-given afghan close to her
wrist-thin neck but try not to chafe her skin.
Find her make-up bag, third shelf
in the cabinet above the sink, a little
to the left, behind her second thyroid medicine.
Attempt to avoid your mirror-eye, and remember
everyone has some dark bags under there sometimes,
everyone gets a little tired sometimes.
Peel off any loosely hanging skin, wrap them in toilet paper,
smooth salmon-coated bristles across still-arched cheek bones.
trim your nails, cut them into small straight squares.
Use both hands to push open your sister’s door--
it swells stuck to the floor boards at night.
She will not be home – she is never home,
like you were never home.
Find the dress you gave her 4 years ago, with
slim floral print on its full skirt,
it will still fit.
Remind yourself that you were here first.