A brother turns 70
No party
No picnic
No cards
No cake
No candles
No gifts
Just as when
he turned sixty
fifty
forty
thirty
twenty-one
and all the years
in-between
Count them
– and their days –
one by one
Five siblings
See the date
On the calendar
On their kitchen walls
Maybe a text
Or a call
to one or another
A word or two
A number
Not much more
Or maybe
Seemingly nothing at all
Bar silent thoughts
But we know
We five
– and the handful of our brother’s
lifelong friends –
What we carry
What we share.
Vin Maskell
Vin Maskell is from Australia and runs the fabulous site and music-lit concert series Stereo Stories.
