My Sister's Kids*
They are the best things that have ever happened to me.
Better than smartphones and Netflix,
than coffee and green tea ice cream,
than puppies and kittens.
My sister’s kids.
My sister’s kids
just two years old and three years old,
Clumsy runners and frequent fallers
Backwards readers and careless counters
Awkward dancers and slurring singers
just troublemakers running away when they need a diaper change
Finger-painting on chairs and tables and laptops, except it’s not paint it’s yogurt
Stealing pens and pencils and markers to color the walls and cabinets with their doodles
Putting charger cables and earphones and plugs in their mouths for whatever reason
just the sweetest family I could ask for
Warm hugs and slobbery kisses
Cute laughs and the brightest smiles
Shared food but monopolized toys
just free
just absolutely free from concepts like race, injustice, discrimination, and inequality
Sheltered in our loving home
Hidden away from the rest of the world
Oblivious to an adult’s reality
My sister’s kids
Why can’t they always be kids?
My sister’s kids
will grow up
trip and fall.
break a bone or two.
stand taller.
develop facial hair.
menstruate for the first time.
will learn
about our country.
about their bodies.
about the world.
will decide
who their friends are.
who their enemies are.
But most importantly,
they will decide
who they are.
My sister
My role model
My second mother
My advocate
My sister
The racist
The homophobe
The traditionalist
My sister
will always love her family
her parents.
her sisters.
her husband.
her children.
Yet I’m afraid for my sister’s kids-
The subjects of too much pressure
Pressure to meet my sister’s expectations
to be a masculine boy
who loves a girl.
who continues the family name.
who has a manly job.
to be a feminine girl
who loves a boy.
who has a family.
who has a respectable job.
to meet Anglocentric beauty standards.
to surround themselves with people
who look the same as them
who meet the same expectations as them
My sister’s kids
I want them to
Be
whomever they want.
Love
whomever they want, however they want.
Be loved
by whomever they want, however they want.
Live
Happily, healthily, kindly, respectfully, knowledgeably .
I want them to explore and discover.
I want them to decide for themselves.
I want them to challenge the status quo.
I want them to have people
who respect their decisions.
who support them.
who challenge them.
My sister’s kids.
They should live fully.
My sister’s kids
Better than puppies and kittens,
than coffee and green tea ice cream,
than smartphones and Netflix.
They are the best things that have ever happened to me.