What Is Family?

Family are the shouts in the dark that keep you awake
     trying to be invisible under your blankets.
Family is the warm heart you run to
     when everyone else at the rink skates too fast
     and you've cut your knees on the ice.
Family are given to you at birth
     with your eyes and lips and nose.
They will stick to you wherever you go
     and shape how you see
     and what you say
     and how you are seen
     forever.
Family are found new each day
     wherever you put your heart last.
Family are the people you share bread with,
     and whoever you share the lack of bread with.
Sometimes your family aren't people.
Family is whoever lives under the tent of your soul.
Your family can be as big as you are,
     and from birth to death, your real, real family
     are the ones who make you grow bigger.

poem by Anitra L. Freeman from "Families of Poems"

Cover art by Storm and Okware

Families of Poems is sold by Real Change vendors and other members of StreetWrites and StreetLife Gallery, who buy it for 60 cents; the rest of the cover price goes to the vendor. It can also be purchased directly from Real Change at 2129 Second Avenue & Blanchard in Belltown, Seattle, Washington, or ordered by mail.