In the front: my sister
in between my father and mother
peacefully fumbling through the snack bag.

Me: sandwiched in the back
between my two brothers
sitting within the invisible
lines they draw between us:
I’ll kill you if you cross.

Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”
lulls my brothers to sleep through
speakers front, side, and back.

Sleeping with their mouths open
their chewing gum falls out
gets stuck in my blonde hair.

I keep my eyes open and forward
don’t want my dad to drive us off
the road in the thick-as-my-mother’s-
soup early morning fog.

Deena November graduated SUNY Binghamton in 2005 with a BA in Creative Writing, Poetry and received her MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry from Carlow University in April 2009. In 2005 she co-edited the anthology I JUST HOPE IT’S LETHAL for Houghton Mifflin. Her poems have also appeared in Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and Warbler. Currently Deena lives in Pittsburgh’s North Side with her husband and dog.