Respect your elders.
Every man is an uncle.
Every woman is an aunty.
You are a child.
We are a family.
I’m afraid the girls in our family learn about the birds and the bees before the ABCs. Learn about how birds swoop. Learn about how bees sting. Learn how to recite the ABCs. Learn how to speak, and to stay quiet.
It takes a village to raise a child. A village to keep a secret.
My entire childhood I wanted to ask, “did you know, aunty?”
“Did you know” isn’t a question I ask when I look at the years on both her and uncle’s birth certificate
“Did you know” isn’t a question I ask when I calculate the age you, as a daughter, became a mother
“Did you know” isn’t a question I ask because I’m afraid this is family business and it is simply my turn to be entrusted
to store secrets in the safe
to lock up
to keep the family business going.
I’m only 19, but my mind feels old
(Sorry, 20, it’s just that is was so recent.)
Everything still feels so recent.
Funny how you age, even though you did not have your youth.
what age did you show your mum where it hurts?
what age did you realise your mum is hurting, too?
Show me your wounds and I’ll show you mine
so we can both gasp and realise
that these wounds we call paper cuts
need medical attention
The women in my family don’t wear our hearts on our sleeves. The women in my family are modest tailors: stitching ourselves over and over again to keep it together and calling it embroidery.
I don’t think I’ve mastered this skill yet.
I’m sometimes tempted to undo my improperly done stitches, let the blood run
on the floor instead of it under the bedroom carpet.
Sometimes I want to name the people who’ve done this to me, that part is easy
I already have the word uncle.
Respect your elders.
Every man is an uncle.
Every woman is an aunty.
You are a child.
We are a family.
Do you know, aunty?
Do you know, aunty?
Do you know, aunty?
About the author
Rerose Roro is an emerging South Sudanese-Australian writer raised in Geelong and the South-East suburbs of Melbourne. Rerose has always had a passion for writing and literature across many mediums, including poetry and creative writing. Rerose won her regional heat for Australian Poetry Slam in 2019 and came third as runner up in State Finals.