daughterstorm | falseteargrimaces | a poem

you told me to be strong

whilst you were victimising me

you told me to be strong

whilst everyone else was victimising me

and it took years

for me to draw the line across my body

and say I am not a victim

*

endure

m e

*

you made me focus on your speeches

so that I’d ignore your actions

*

by the time I realised that you had said nothing at all

it was too late

your actions had sunk in

*

you destroyed the smallest of worlds

and we carried the guilty conscience

*

you’d profit from the beliefs you instilled in me

that I was your victim

that I couldn’t move

couldn’t speak

take action

that I was complicit

self-victimised

as powerlessness shifted onto me

a sense of responsibility

that you wanted to exploit against me

I realised that I had all the power in the world

turned foulness into resilience

stagnation into transformation

you gave me one cloud after another

and I hit you back and raised a whole storm

you had put me in my place

in my place

in my place

preaching love

oh, but see, I never stay down there

I don’t stay where other people put me

down

I punch upwardly