The Siblings by Lauren Jernberg

You loathe it when they all come together
and when they talk in voices that sound like
staving cats crying out into the night.

They fight over who is the favorite child
and then decide who is the least favorite.
They will fight for days on end till someone

new comes in. Then they will play nice with each
other. They may act nice but their words are meant to
hurt one another. When all the fighting

is over the awkward silence will fill
your ears as if they were hungry mouths to
feed. But then all is well and they are quite

delightful. They laugh and make jokes about
nothing at all. They start to remind you
of your childhood, sunny days in the yard

playing games and running around like wild animals.
They are so entertaining to watch that
even when you can’t stand them you can’t help but

stare at the wondrous way they work. They are
enemies and then friends in a blink of
an eye. Though they are not the best to be

around they will always work things out since
they are family. Outside my window the
sky is grey and unfriendly. There is

only one person in the field. They walk
to a class they most likely don’t care for.
They may just wish to go home and sleep to

get back to the dream they left and see what
happens next. They may grasp at it hoping
it is real life but then wake to the day.

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The Aunts by Joyce Sutphen

I like it when they get together

and talk in voices that sound

like apple trees and grape vines,

and some of them wear hats

and go to Arizona in the winter,

and they all like to play cards.

They will always be the ones

who say “It is time to go now,”

even as we linger at the door,

or stand by the waiting cars, they

remember someone—an uncle we

never knew—and sigh, all

of them together, like wind

in the oak trees behind the farm

where they grew up—a place

I remember—especially

the hen house and the soft

clucking that filled the sunlit yard.