to my sister

To my sister, to whom I owe all of my wisdom
Or, what you’d call teenage stupidity.
Except, you being the musician and me the writer,
I’d say the phrase for you and you’d nod and agree
because you trust my use of words more than your own.
And I’d do the same while playing piano,
when you’d correct my C#m7b5 add 9 chord to a C#m7b5 add 11 chord.
Because I trust you.
Also because I don’t know the difference
And you’ll stop nagging after I listen.

You and I, we’re like that.
Two parts in harmony.
Yin and Yang I’d say.
G7b9 resolved to Cmaj7 add9 you’d say.

We know how to make each other smile.
You send me merchandise from your college,
I photoshop your school in a nuclear blast.
You text me photos of college wildlife,
I send you pictures of our dog,
so that you don’t miss him as much.
Because whenever you return home,
He sleeps beside you,
As if he thinks you’ll leave
and never come back.

We still make faces at each other over Skype
And send unflattering selfies during class.
We compare our biceps and triceps in the mirror.
Who is the strongest? The bravest? The best?
Then suddenly, who is the grossest? The dumbest?
We even argue over who is the fattest.
Only, every time we conclude it’s me.
And somehow that never ceases to crack us up.

Only I understand your humor
Only I understand your bluntness.
And only I can differentiate the two.
When I sneeze, you say
You are not blessed.
When I say, That plant looks ugly.
You say, It probably thinks you’re ugly too.

But we weren’t always so compatible.
We were once as immiscible as oil and water
Water and fire,
Fire and a vacuum.
Or maybe fire and gasoline
Because when combined we would explode
In a brawl of shrieks and screams ending in floods of tears,
that ended with both of us in trouble.
And when we played Lego Star Wars
We shot and killed each other
Because we both wanted to go separate ways,
But the screen didn’t allow us to.

But now we are inseparable.
We’re chains interlocked around a fence,
boats and their masts sailing an ocean,
planets caught in each other’s orbit.
It is impossible to pull us apart.
Like strong magnets, I’d say.
Like how hard it is to dislocate your jaw, you’d say.

We refuse to let go
Even though we’re three hundred eighty two miles apart while you’re at college.
Because we have a love that transcends time and space.

Of course,
I’d never say that to your face
And you to mine.
Because that’s too weird for even us.
Two sisters who happen to be best friends.
Two best friends who happen to be sisters.
We won the lottery somehow
A one in a million chance.
Like surviving a plane crash, I’d say.
Like finding an extra contact in your new contact case, you’d say.