Our Front Porch

In the summer

our front porch

was surrounded

by vines with heart shaped leaves

if you sat on the very top step

and were real quiet

passersby would

walk right past

along the blue grey sidewalk

and not even give you

a sideways glance

you could just sit there

and listen to fragments

of conversation

coming and going

and on a hot August day

it was the coolest place to be

so when I saw

my oldest sister

with her long brown hair

and cut off shorts

sitting there

I thought I’d join

I took the spot

next to her

as she wiped her cheek

and I saw she was crying

I asked her

what’s wrong?

without even

looking at me

she said

I want to be alone.

so

I let her be

alone

that’s the kind of space

it was anyway

a space for aloneness

it wasn’t until the next day

when I overheard the phone call

in the kitchen

that I knew

he had broken up

with her

he broke her heart

my sister

with

the long brown hair.