Thanks to Punam at dVerse Poets’ Pub who invites us thus to celebrate a sibling in poetry:

for today’s Poetics I would like you to show some love to your sibling(s) through poetry. You are free to complain and rant too. If you are an only child, you can write about the sibling you always wanted, you can pay homage to the sibling you lost, you can write a thank you verse that you always wanted to but never found time to…the possibilities are endless. Share with us your thoughts on your sibling(s), let us be a part of your family through your verse.

Here is a celebration of one of my soul-friends, in whose summer-house (“sit-ooterie”) we often sit.

soul-sisters, sitting it oot

(for Anne, written in her ‘sit-ooterie’)

So much alike, so different:
congested tight Agave plants; 
‘Bishop of Llandaff’ dahlias;
emotions witnessed in the Dance.

So much alike, in parallel:
the oystercatcher’s probing beak
the crimson pang of dogwood stems
our sentence-endings when we speak.

So much alike, so “youngest child”,
with insight wisdom ‘yond our years; 
masks, metaphors, and fairy tales;
and making choices after tears.

So much of likeness, difference:
earthed hugs connect. Her fire, each tends,
the air that dreams are made of, breathes;
the river ‘neath the river, wends.
So, noticing what each one owns
and celebrating her – we’re friends.

© Kathy Labrum McVittie 13 October 2017