for my sister, MissUnicornGirl who writes bloody good poems if she's gotten round to publishing any.

dear sister
i hope the way you learn
all these hard lessons
is from the pieces of my soul i hand you
and not from the teachings of experience

i hope you never understand
the depth of the hatred
of the homophobic insults of the soul
they spit when you are alone

i hope you always understand i am here for you
but never need to come to me
for anything more painful
than gossip and fashion advice

dear sister,
i hope you never learn the lessons i learnt
the hard way,
never understand my poems
never understand me

not to hurt you - never that, only
because if you don't understand
then in this one thing, i have succeeded
and this was always the most important.