Serena Malcolm

I am Kiddo, I am Sez, I am Bread and Water,

I am my mother’s child and my father’s daughter,

I am mum to Tally and Reecey-Breecey,

I am wife to the only other man who sees me,

I am exhaustion personified, anxiety made flesh,

I am a girl who has more than once toed the canyons of death,

I am overweight, but also so over caring,

I am so over-familiar with over-sharing,

I am the 9-year-old who wouldn’t hold your hand,

I am the 42-year-old who won’t let go of your hand,

I am the face of freckles and the thighs of thunder,

I am the one you were convinced should have been a runner,

I am the niece who makes the teas all wrong,

I am the cousin who never truly belonged,

I am the first one to call you out on your mess,

I am the one who only once beat you at chess,

I am the 17-year-old you rescued from that party,

I am the one who sat in that car drunk and brokenhearted,

I am the ex-cop with whom you’d swap tales of discrimination, 

I am the one you taught empathy, fairness, and patience, 

I am all crooked teeth and nappy hair that never looks right,

I am the 11-year-old who fast learned to bushel her light,

I am the little sis, the baby, your youngest of three,

And I am begging you, Dad, please remember me.