Poem: Making Friends

She claimed me that first day in the school yard:

me standing there on skinny legs,

dazzled by Australian sunshine and heat,

the bee buzz of more children

than I’d reckoned in the world.

She took my hand.

I told her my name,

she said hers.

She tucked my arm under hers,

marched me away into a life

I wasn’t sure I wanted.

“We’re best friends now,” she said.

“Okay,” I said.

She was bigger than me.

I went along with whatever she said,

because what if she sat on me?

She was a Big Girl.

I was a small one.

I would have followed anyone

who showed me how to be real.