it was the curls

that i combed,

of a little girl,

that i soon began to see

myself.

i begged for curls,

and she begged to have straight hair.

and even though my mother continued

to curl up in a ball in bed,

i watched

caroline grow.

When Caroline’s Mother

Susan,

told me that I was

a good girl,

I ran to her when I

ran away.

when I was 14,

i jumped off my roof

in the middle of the night.

Why this?

to sip the first of

the ****** poison.

with him.

deep within, maybe he knew.

calling me on my telephone,

was my half-sister, and my

mother’s eldest sister.

they told me that

if i came home,

they would never tell mama.

and they didn’t.

when caroline asked

for coca-cola in the

evening, i let her have it.

even though that was

the reason

why

she never went to bed

on time.

and because i was young,

and because i never knew better,

that is why it is my god-given right

to one day be a mother.

for now,

caroline and i,

will have each other

as each of our Mothers

suffer from a cancer

deep within.