Family Condition

I have an extra toenail

it runs in my family

just a tiny sliver on 

the right pinky toe

No one would ever notice

but it’s there, 

separate, defined

I get it from the mother side

and in that line it’s

rampant

mother, grandmother, aunts

my sister

passed on through 

woman to woman

our most basic

and meaningful inheritance

Unlike the witches of old

we don’t have the full deformity

only the sharpest part

the little bit that

points, needles

stabs at us until 

we do something about it

Even I forget it’s there

most of the time

until I take a 

twisted step too far

out to the left

or run into something

I should surely have avoided

and then- a pain

a small, sharp pain

running down the outside

of my foot

and suddenly-

ah, yes now

there it is

my inheritance

The family condition

and saving grace 

all wrapped up in one