Jewell LoBianco: Child number thirteen

I was child number thirteen
The home was so full
there was always something going on
My sister was an artist
We went to New York
She was like a second mother
I watched them all perform
I could sit back on their coattails

Another sister had three boys,
two were older than me,
one was 5 months younger
We had a ball going swimming & to dances
& no one believed that I was their aunt

But you can’t get by without anything
We only got so much time in the bathroom
before the knock inevitably came.
My older sisters were all gone & married
I was the last child of a big family
Child number thirteen

—Jewell LoBianco