by Jennifer Reyna                                 

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the blue Lego’s out of the box

start of the airplane

pieces all around me

blue here and blue between my toes

Indian style under the Christmas tree

the fake snow fell into my hair

the needles picked at my legs

my plane was ready

my stepbrother held it loosely

he threw my airplane into the white wall

that was still glowing from the Christmas lights

the blue was released into its former self

he threw my gray cat off the bunk bed

he made my nose bleed with his feet

beat my mom’s orange cat with a bat

peed the bed because his father wasn’t home

when I had a sore throat

I didn’t want to eat the noodles of the soup

I drank the broth

and he ate the noodles for me

he isn’t my real brother