Sneak Peak: String Theory

Note: As a celebration of 1,000+ views and counting, this is a short preview of a brand new cycle I'm working on that will be titled "String Theory." This will be either the second or third movement of at least four, maybe five. There's a lot happening and a major focus on familial interactions and distance. Enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Some of us learn too young
that people stop loving each other
and really, that’s not what it means
to fray the yarns and threads that stitch us together
in units
They call those families
and I heard once—
or a couple dozen times
when I replayed the same scenes—
that family is just people
who remember the same places
that never were,
like living room laughter
and kitchen dinners in high chairs
when all the boys and girls sat in their seats.
There were never name cards
to mandate spots
but we’ve all had them,
or so we believe.
Wicker and wood and leather
bent with our bodies in the years’ transitions
from diapers to non-scuff soles for the
parochial school hallways—
it was speckled floors, like our basements,
and there’s a diner with matching linoleum
in a mountain city
where Midwest vagabonds end up
because they know the String Theory.