The Sister, by Lisa Richter

Lisa Richter’s poetry has appeared in Canthius, The Puritan, The Malahat
Review, The Scrivener, The Rock Salt Plum Review, and elsewhere. Her first
full-length collection of poetry, Closer to Where We Began, is forthcoming
with Tightrope Books in spring 2017. She lives, writes, and teaches English
to adults in Toronto.

About the poem:

I wrote “The Sister” (whose title was inspired by Sharon Olds’ “The Father”) as
a tribute to my older sister Caroline, whose severe mental illness resulted in her
hospitalization on numerous occasions between the ages of 16-24. Though this
story was not easy to tell, I've been greatly encouraged by The Sibling Support
Project (www.siblingsupport.org), an online community for brothers and sisters of
people with special health, developmental, and mental health concerns.