I could be family

I could be family

a comet curves past the house, and we don’t
notice because i’m yelling at my muffins that won’t rise,
and you’re trying to avoid stabbing
yourself with your embroidery needle again.
i can’t tell which strawberries smell
stronger, the ones on the counter
or the ones etched in the thread.

there are no rings on our fingers;
when we leave the house, strangers imagine
us as sisters, sitting in separate brioche beanbags,
wrapped in our own blankets, but i hope one day
they’ll see us together on a baguette couch.
there are many candles at our feet
on the coffee table, and your arm,
sprinkled with poppy seeds, wraps around
my body as the smell of pumpernickel
drifts in from the next room.

Michelle Rochniak

(she/they)

Michelle Rochniak is a mythology-obsessed poet from Connecticut (USA). She majors in professional writing and minors in women’s studies at Western Connecticut State University. They were also a 2022 CT Collegiate Poet with the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. Current pubs include Fifth Wheel Press and Brave Voices Magazine. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter!