I come from a family of secrets

Some simple

The language of a mother and her sisters
Words from another country
Distorted by a myth they called a dream

Some complicated

Who was living in our house
Come from a secret past
To share our rooms
Sit at our table
Call themselves our siblings

I come from a family that did not speak its secrets

But knew

Words on a folded page
Sent from a secret past
Left on our table
Could open to fold our secret parts together
Or rip them to pieces

I come from a family that risked

That sailed to an unseen country
That married a secret past
That risked the page we might unfold

I write to take that risk

Place words on a page to be unfolded
To be spoken in some other room
To reveal the unread secrets
To tell you those who share our table may be siblings
May be strangers

To fold us together or rip us to pieces