"Brother Across the Pacific"

This one is for the big sisters miles away from home who long to hold the hands of their siblings — may you one day find your way back — but most special, this one is for my "boboy":

Thunder roaring down the hall,

baby toothed screams and life creaking through the cracks

between what's left of that rusty, red tin house

where I watched

and you watch

the world pass through a screened, locked door.

I hope you rub the sleep from your eyes

when I can't be there to remind you that

no fence can stop the toddling from taking a leap.