dad,
if you were the thesis
i was the anti/thesis.
you “made it”
and destroyed lives in the process.
i was determined to be
the opposite of you.
i wasn’t gonna be part of
the culture you so desperately cling to,
maybe cause you gave up yours
years before you were born.
i realized that i don’t have to feel bad
for being a victim
and i don’t have to hate you.
dad,
if you were the thesis
i was the anti/thesis.
i was determined to keep
all the evil in the world
contained
so i could easily
identify and package
and distance myself from it,
and you were the easy answer enemy.
but even serial killers are human,
manifesting the violence
that pervades the cultures i live in.
so you must be human
even though you almost killed me
so many times,
and even though
you broke my little heart
before i even knew
what one was.
i realized that i don’t have to hate you
for hurting me.
dad,
you are not the thesis.
© billie strain
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