I'm Sorry but Your Childhood Pet Can't Recognize You on FaceTime

people say I move like my mother     they say my sisters
& I have the same eyes          only way to tell we are sisters
they ask are you close?          I say they’re my best friends
they ask what is your grandmother like?        I say she is kind of Italian like
throws knives in the yard during thunderstorms        but doesn’t make pasta Italian          
they ask do you miss home?              I say I do
I miss my family          I say I am
home               I say I miss
everywhere     that no longer exists

& I wonder what my father is  doing in this moment
if he is looking at birds in the yard      if he is using his senior discount at Kohl’s
to buy more cargo shorts my mother hates   if he is sitting with my mother            
& the cat          if they are touching
if they are touching the cat     if they laugh   
if when they laugh it’s at the TV         or something the other one said

when I return the couch remembers
my shape        when I return

everything I say sounds like driving away

when I return
the rooms look sideways
when I return

I wear my mothers clothes
& people say               “you move like she does”

8-Legged Human Purse

“i always feel like ppl r staring at us,”
u say when we get into ur car after going out 4 dinner
& i can feel the space between my eyebrows look kind of confused
even though i kno what u r saying & i feel that way, too

i wish i could press my face into ur face until our faces become
the same face and ppl would stare at us bc we are conjoined
with each other and they have never seen a human
-oid creature w eight limbs before

i wish u could carry me on ur shoulder like a human purse
and reach into me 2 grab something u need or maybe just want
and i would give it 2 u like I was made of Italian leather and ppl would stare
at us bc they have never seen a human purse before

but mostly i wish we could walk down the street holding hands and smiling
into each other’s necks at restaurants and ppl would stare at us
not bc we have eight limbs or bc i am a human purse or bc our skin is different colors
but bc they have never seen two ppl care for each other like we do before.