Bad Blood

I come from a family tree
That has forgotten the names
Of their wives and daughters

I come from a family
That invented a brother from the aether
When none sprung from the womb

I was not enough.
They needed a phantom to take my place.

You said your father wanted a son.
I was replaced by a ghost.

Do not talk to me of a woman's insecurities
I know them all

You were never the brown girl
At the back of the ballet studio
Nursing a red weal from white hands

I still am.