Amalia Mayita Mendez, Herstory (photograph)
My brother was born blue / and quiet / not unlike the
sky and like the sky he lived / exposed / blueberry
mouth blue eyes his heart / tied in a bow / the river
threading his wrist / a slow river lazy / boat his
heartbeat / his echo / lived / his name scribbled / in
my books / his hop-step laugh on the loop / of our
neighborhood trailed me / bugged me / his leg brace /
his bracelet warning / labels / his sirens his strokes / he
lived / his freckled skin his / surgeons their / knives his
open / heart / their tracks his scars / his sky their star /
bites their staples their / train wrecks / he lived / for
eleven years he lived / and then /