Because we binged-watched
hour after hour
to see if young James would survive
the gay conversion therapy
or if Sarah, survivor
of the death camps,
would become the victim of
crazy-as-a-bat Regina, and
because we stayed up so late
wondering if Gino would walk out on Anna
and would the grapevines live
and the baby survive,
though born three-weeks premature
—all this as real to us as our noses—
and because we became so tangled
in their lives, talking
about them even
while walking in the neighborhood,
as if they were family,
wondering, for example,
if Elizabeth and Douglas
were truly right for each other
and if Livvy would wind up
as Henry’s beard, too,
or instead go to London and confront Lloyd,
who had ravished her
when he came to paint the portrait;
because hour after hour
unashamedly
we followed the
ups and downs
the weddings the murders
the betrayals and secrets
the love and snobbery
because we could not shake it off
because we have so little family left
and didn’t know we missed
all that dysfunction.

c. Edward Levy, 2018