'Sipping into Adulthood'

Maybe one day I will learn to like the taste of wine 

like I learnt to write my name 

or how to kiss boys —

with no teeth, a little tongue. 

 

Maybe it will come naturally with age.

 

I’ll learn to swallow bitterness 

without so much as a grimace.

Like how I learnt to hate my body 

and that boys don’t want to just kiss. 

 

Loneliness is the most comforting emotion 

Fairytales are sugar-coated lies

Parents are just as lost as the rest of us

 

My mother was engaged before she met my father.

My father has worked a job he hates for thirty-six years.

 

Perhaps I will grow to be just like them. 

Savour sips of wine

 

Or maybe I will never grow,

never change, remain 

that little girl tugging on her mother’s skirt 

back when her mother still knew everything.

 

All easy smiles and loose dreams 

bouncing on her grandfather’s knee 

at the dining table

begging for a taste.