Dear Cousin

(the one who will likely never speak to me again & vice versa)

Dear Cousin
(the one who will likely never speak to me again & vice versa),

My mom sent you. 

I could tell by the way her fingers moved: the strategic pokes for punctuation, the careful caress of her dainty gold crucifix, the delicate dabs of your salt-stained face. She was preaching something about family and forgiveness. Something about how silence wasn’…