Sunday, August 31, 2014

In Memory of My Sister Missy, Whose Birthday Is Today, August 31, 2014

Before I share my own tribute to Missy, I want to share this poem our sister Suzy wrote about the photo below,  "Moments in  Sisterhood/Snapshots from an Album, From my Mind." 


Easter, 1960?
Matching dresses, mother-made
Yours with yellow ducks
Mine, lavender bunnies
Two brown-haired girls smiling
My hand in yours.

Summer four years later
Squatting in the dirt
Our backyard baseball diamond
Snowball posing too, fluffy white
We smile at the camera
Your pixie, my crooked braids

You'd pedal a blue bike
Me on the seat
Up Forrest Drive
To the donut shop
Knowing the clerk would whisper
"Y'all like a lemon-filled today?"
Your talkative friendliness, the welcome currency
Then back towards home
Down Forrest Drive to Stratford Road
Me perched on handlebars
You pedaling strong

Saturday night, the Stones
You   me     David
Entire jars of Spanish olives!
Hotdogs--on buns!
Spaghetti--from a can!
And a peacock spreading a tail of living color

Bedtime
Our white and turquoise room upstairs
Double bed beside the window
Watching pines against the sky

Moments in our childhood
Like squares of an afghan
Sewn together for a lifetime of warmth
You and me

Sisters.

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