You weren’t supposed to know.
Our adoptive parents received a business letter with a mistake, one that costs lawyers their livelihoods: my name
“Jamie.”
We shared one life from that moment: you, ever in the clear light of day; I, always in the shadows. Your life was my could-have-been. You, with your second-birth-certificate name, usurped me.
But one night, at three in the morning, you heard the scream. Not my name. Yours.
“Frankie!”
From then on, I shared with you my disposessed identity’s anger, the power of “this shouldn’t be!” My rage became your armor against the violence they unleashed tearing themselves apart.
Now, you honor me. You write our poetry–with me, through me– and translate the silence of mysterious Being. You embrace me; we live united at last.
So this, I know:
“You will love again the stranger who was your self.”
for dVerse Poets’ Prosery #3: Love After Love (pubtended by Kim Russell). The Pub is open! Come join us!
Frank J. Tassone 
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