Photo by Brigita Przybylski
Setting Fire to the Family Tree
I’ve never learned how to love myself
More than I was told to love anyone else
And I’m doing alright now, I know
I’m surrounded by my mother’s lies
I turn away from the anger in my father’s eyes
When I started to put myself first
I became ostracized after they ignored my cries for help
But I realized that they are the problem, not me
I don’t want to be grounded with roots underneath
I want to be happy and free
I’m more than a name on the family tree
Me is all that I want to be
Burning down the branches
Dancing in the ashes
Kicking up the leaves
Laughing in the smoke
Setting fire to the family tree
Me is all that I want to be
My Stage Family
I feel judged
Don’t feel loved
Feel like I’m acting in a play
I memorized all my lines
And never break character
You hope the stage lights
Hit us just right
To blind them from reality
And neither of you can see
Me for who I really am
I wish, after the applause,
I could leave this pretend family
I don’t fit right,
Even though it was typecasted
My childish romances would’ve never lasted
And now I’m taller than you,
I don’t look up to you
I hope the prop weapon is switched for the real
Bleeding out my blood relations
Superficial conversations
Manipulative calculations
Authoritarian incantations
Abusive aggravations
Trauma causations
The audience doesn’t see
And neither does my stage family
Kindergarten 