Belle Weather

If your sister
Acted like this weather,
You'd have her committed
Faster than we both could say
"Bipolar."

If her doctor
Told you her behavior
Was a natural cycle
Would that make for
Better living with her?

If you'd admit
The hardest part would be
To change the things you do
To make her crazy,
It'd be a start.

Weather and the Girl

You might blush
If it were only whispered
At large family gatherings,
And no drinks
Or other secrets spilled-
We might get by with thinking
It's nobody's problem
But our own.

I remember the wedding,
When she smashed the ice sculpture
We didn't stand around pretending
She and it weren't melting down
In front of us.

Having seen it happen here,
If your sister bounced
This sharply up and down
By days or weeks
A little more each year,
You'd have her off to rehab,
Back on meds, or stuck in therapy,
Or something-anything-
But letting anyone else see.

So why, if everyone with skin
Can feel the bipolarity-
That's blowing in the wind,
Melting with the icecaps-
And rising with the tide,
Do we so snidely eschew insularity,

Pretending- now of all nows-

That we don't all live on a tiny island
Where everybody's business is co-owned?
While I hate to crash a party
I think it's started crashing down on us.