Squished

I'm in the middle
again.

Only
this time
it's my mother
who is eighty
and my daughter
who is seventeen.

I keep looking up
I keep looking down

If I'm kind to my mother
will my daughter be kind to me?

If I show my daughter
that I ask for what I want
will she do it
when she needs to?

One sister was five years older
One sister was five years younger

I cannot remember my older sister

ever speaking to me

though once

she taught me how to whistle.

I loved my younger sister

the way I wanted

to be loved

though once

I left her alone

on the bed

in the middle

and she rolled off.

(c)Sharon Weinstein

from Celebrating Absences

Road Publishers, Painter, VA