Dear Little Sister (Contest Winner)

Poem by Mae L.

5th-8th GRADE WINNER FOR SPRING 2024 POETRY CONTEST. Prompt: All submissions must be in the form of an epistolary poem. An epistolary poem is a poem that reads as a letter to any person, place, or thing. As poems of direct address, they can be intimate and colloquial, or formal and measured. The subject matter can range from philosophical investigation to a declaration of love to a list of errands, and epistles can take any form, from heroic couplets to free verse. Your poem must be between 150 and 300 words.

The change of seasons
would suck
without you.
Most things would.

You don’t care about the dirt
under the orange leaves
littering the city floor
like the oily salad
we lick off our plates.

You convince me
looks don’t matter
when I’m with my sister in nature.
And we dance,
basking in the haven of the sun.

You,
me,
and the sun.
We three
play hide and seek
through the branches
of Prospect Park,
not caring if we ruin wedding pictures
or shatter quiet with our laughs.

At night I leave your bed
to lay beneath my cold comforter
still near enough
and wait for you
to come up with another question
about how the world spins
or why life is so short.
Suddenly it is late
and we are talking into the night.

When we dance,
we lose time.
You copy every move
I make.
Loop an arm around my waist,
and we bow to our invisible friends,
who clap without making noise.
That’s when I know
I’m your favorite person,
enough to keep me happy for days.

When we are older
(and wiser
and stronger
but maybe not old-old)
we will have to sleep
but our talks
can last up to hours.
Dreamland can wait.
Our fights shake up snowglobes,
but when we go to bed
we are never tired
of holding each other’s hands.
Always
your sister

Comments from the judge, Ananda Lima: This poem conveys the speaker’s love for their sister through specific depictions of their time together: walking city streets, playing hide and seek, sharing a comforter, dancing together, holding hands after a fight. Through evocative descriptions, we get to experience small but important moments that help us understand the tenderness the speaker has for their sister.