Thick Water
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Blood is thicker than water,
they say,
but they are wrong.
for no one knows whose sperm
divided the Red Sea
and joined a bastard egg to make me …
For you are my family.
You are my loves.
We run thicker than the juice
which flows generously from the tap
without apparent end
and takes the form of whatever will hold it
(a promiscuous lover).
You are the woman I call Mother,
the man I call Dad,
the babies I call by their nicknames
who call me Auntie,
the sisters, the brother,
the man who said yes.
You are the dogs and cats and friends
thickening me,
the love swelling my belly
kicking me with new life,
the water breaking,
the bonding making me
immortal.
© Joyce Mason, 2008-2011
All Rights Reserved
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