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This poem is taken from PN Review 187, Volume 35 Number 5, May - June 2009.

Two Poems Allison McVety
Family Trees
    China


There are no aunts or brothers or sisters here;
we do not branch, we run on lines and wires
instead, a linear life, selfless and fierce.

Relieved of tributary roles, siblings, each
of us streaming like rain, drawn along vines
in the same direction. And in cold seasons
...


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