Dear Kate

Dear Kate,

I’m spread out on the couch

And the news is on TV

Chatting about the weather,

The next big atrocity

I remember when you were born

The local news came

Cameras, lights, the works

To film your little pink body

And our mother, who you didn’t quite know

Or maybe you did

on some cosmic, prenatal level,

Was holding you tired

You were the first leap year

The town ever had

And the first baby

With eyes that kind of blue

Gray, torrential blue

Like two little storms

So, our older brother and me

Stood in front of the camera

With our baseball caps on

And tried to behave

They asked us how we felt

To have a new baby sister

But in that moment

I didn’t understand

I’d never seen a baby close before

So I said you looked like Grandma

Kind of like an Irish raisin ,

Serious-looking

I didn’t tell them about the dream

I had months and months ago

Long before Mom held you

Long before you learned to breathe

I was on a trampoline

Bouncing high into the trees

With a little girl in a white dress

Who laughed and fell and laughed

As we laid on our backs

The sun made patterns on us

She said her name was Kaitlyn

She said she was my sister

And of course, I knew it

So well that when I woke

I was shaking with love

With tears on my pillow.

Sincerely,

Your Brother