Picture / Poem

Sister in Memoir

– By Annette Januzzi Wick

Sometimes, I begin with my father’s belt

and her blue and black-welted thighs

then I’ll scratch that, thinking

that’s not fair, or siblings

might complain or deny

the BIG TRUTH to save the little one.

 

Or I re-imagine her in tap lessons

when I desired those long bruised legs

that stretched across

“The Sunny Side of the Street.”

 

Or I’ll use the teaser,

“Left alone

in cramped confines

with only alcohol to drink.”

Or maybe, “She used to be

an alcoholic —

now she’s just disabled.”

 

I might leave the reader

hanging for a while

upside down in our

childhood apple tree

with its rubbled bark

blood rushing to the head

clenched fingers turning blue

 

wondering at what point

the writer will allow

the reader —

and my sister —

to swing in the breeze

with rumpled leaves

and then …


drop from grace.

 

POEM / Annette Januzzi Wick is a local writer, blogger and community builder. Visit annettejanuzziwick.com to learn more about connecting in community through creativity. 

PICTURE / Sara Caswell-Pearce, “Solo,” mixed media collage. Pearce is a Cincinnati-based journalist, fine artist, graphic designer and printer.