When the Sunday morning sun

hands out sunburns 

like maternity ward newborns,

I sprint through 

that neonate heat. 

At the junction of Love

& Am I Alive, I tumble

into a cafe’s hot arms. 

I need a hug

from my absent sister.

Can I spot her in this cafe? 

I plop down at an effervescent table. 

I lost my sister’s glow. 

Do you have her glow?

Her face marches into an army

of alien stomps. 

I stumble over to a beaming table.

I lost my sister’s smile.

Do you have her smile?

I swoop around her mouth’s expanse

but I just find a growl.

At the table in the corner

underneath a framed painted sister,

I slip onto a chair 

across from a foreign sister

writing in a journal 

very much like my own.

I lost my sister’s love.

Do you have her love?