One (Sarah Crossan)

Tragedy

I would hate to have cancer.

I would hate to have to get hooked up

to a machine every week

so they could pump poison into me

in the hope it would save my life.

Our uncle Calvin died of heart disease at

thirty-nine

leaving behind three sons and a pregnant wife.

Grammie’s sister drowned in a barrel

of rotten peaches and stagnant water

when they lived on a farm

as little girls.

On the news are stories about

child abuse and famine and genocide and drought

and I have never once thought

that I would like to

swap my life for any belonging to those people

whose lives are steeped in tragedy.

Because having a twin

like Tippi is

not

The Worst

Thing

Ever.