I’m from evil brothers and daring pranks,

from bruised knees to sabotage,

from water balloons to lurking around corners,

from parents blind to the trickery,

and brothers who executed better than me 

on this strategic game we called childhood. 

I’m from trips and days that long for an end,

from departing from apartment buildings and waving my last goodbyes,

from echoes and whispers from lonesome rooms,

from waking up with no brothers hurdling on me to get the f*** out of bed,

or sisters braiding my hair, hoping to make me look all “pretty” for I became an only

child and ruled the house with my ever-lasting fantasies.

I’m from phones ringing and dates scribbled into scratch paper,

from catching up with siblings and gobbling down their tongue-biting stories,

from jealousy and dreaming of not going to school, 

from wishing to visit them across the state and get to experience how they live,

or better yet: switch lives and transform into them as they are the version I yearn to be, 

I will forever be thankful for the siblings who created the clever, gritty boy I am today.