Dave Dean is back yet again for another fantastic Writing Wednesday. This poem is entitled “A Sister”. Image: Sharon Stone by Peter Duke.

A SISTER

Acknowledged your brother, why mention someone else first.
Names in the sidewalk your forefinger barely had force.
Coax something terrible, out of your youth like a coach,
a last splashing cannonball, original Breeders records.

Both don’t make a sound,
There’s no locks on the doors
and no grown-ups around.

Canvass with photographs the 5 cents you’d charge for a look,
through your magic eye or your 3-D, pop up books.
Connect the cracks, a smoking crawl to the ceiling,
another contest we’ll see who goes longest without breathing.

Back on the corners come fall,
lost in the shadows
of a demolished hospital.

Coloured dividers decorated all of your binders.
X’s for eyes in the purples and blues of shiners,.
Sedatives taken the same way you’d tear your own denim,
your wallet dropped out somewhere around Glenlake and Clendennan.

Whole sidewalks are gone,
washed out, like where’d you get
your fiancés from.