in the white space

when she was
a girl
the white space
welcomed
like a lover
she fought
hard to overcome
a sense of self
defeating
her arch nemesis
Mother

Sister sought escape
in a man in a bottle
in a needle

Brother got away
to a space
where poetry never lives

and the littlest lost
in a walkabout
within
a body of bones
flesh, sinew
in a mind that never
calms
in a heart that
bleeds

the bomb

where words lead
her little mind a wanders...

to laughter
to intimacy
to companionship
to...

the tensile strength of flesh between teeth
in that moment
before it gives
and she pulls away