{"id":5691,"date":"2013-04-11T20:19:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T00:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=5691"},"modified":"2013-04-11T20:19:58","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T00:19:58","slug":"day-11-of-national-poetry-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/04\/day-11-of-national-poetry-month.html","title":{"rendered":"day 11 of National Poetry Month ~"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am a sister. Sometimes I feel like I should preface that statement as they do in AA: Hi. My name is Britton and I’ve been a sister for all but a scant three years of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever recover…<\/em><\/p>\n

My sisters are my best friends. It figures, since we moved a lot as children, but always had each other. Each of them has her own friends, as well. As do I. We call them our ‘other sisters.’ And the poem today is from that perspective.<\/p>\n

Lucille Clifton is one of my very favourite poets — an amazing writer and person. This poem reminds me that not only are our kin are our family. But also? Our kin sisters are verry special.<\/p>\n

Here’s Lucille Clifton’s ‘sisters’:<\/p>\n

sisters<\/strong><\/div>\n

me and you be sisters.
\nwe be the same.<\/p>\n

me and you
\ncoming from the same place.<\/p>\n

me and you
\nbe greasing our legs
\ntouching up our edges.<\/p>\n

me and you
\nbe scared of rats
\nbe stepping on roaches.<\/p>\n

me and you
\ncome running high down purdy street one time
\nand mama laugh and shake her head at
\nme and you.<\/p>\n

me and you
\ngot babies
\ngot thirty-five
\ngot black
\nlet our hair go back
\nbe loving ourselves
\nbe loving ourselves
\nbe sisters.<\/p>\n

only where you sing,
\nI poet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a sister. Sometimes I feel like I should preface that statement as they do in AA: Hi. My name is Britton and I’ve been a sister for all but a scant three years of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever recover… My sisters are my best friends. It figures, since we moved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,22,496],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,495,318,1190,1298],"class_list":["post-5691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-poetry","category-sisters","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-lucille-clifton","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-poetry","tag-sisters"],"yoast_head":"\nday 11 of National Poetry Month ~ - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am a sister. 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My name is Britton and I've been a sister for all but a scant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2013\/04\/day-11-of-national-poetry-month.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beginner's Heart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-12T00:19:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/files\/2013\/04\/4-sisters-2-at-my-bday.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Britton Gildersleeve\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"day 11 of National Poetry Month ~ - Beginner's Heart","description":"I am a sister. Sometimes I feel like I should preface that statement as they do in AA: Hi. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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