by Kim B Miller
(Kim had 2 great parents this is not based on her life)
Dear Parents,
Really, I shouldn’t call you that
But that is what “they” the system, defined you
You were supposed to be the ones to be there when I needed you
Instead, you had you 14K gold kid
Silver like me was seen as tarnished, a second thought, forgettable
Oh, you thought you were, what
Not obvious, with how you erased me
Not obvious of how you glossed over me
Not obvious with how I was barely tolerated
Oh, I was supposed to overlook your obvious bias against me
Overlooking is in our DNA, so I was bred to include it
You thought your gaslighting had me so lit on lies that I couldn’t see the truth
But the beauty of siblings is to have more than one vision on the same problem
He was not mesmerized but your compliments
He saw you
We saw you
We talk about you often now
We talk about the trauma you inflicted
We didn’t compete against each other
Even though you constantly made us competitors
I used to blame him
I now see being 14K gold ain’t easy either
I didn’t think about how gold is always expected to be perfect, sparkling, unique
I was complaining but I didn’t realize the pressure used to make someone sparkle
Being a second-place sibling was not easy either because you said potential escaped me
I had no encouragement
You threw seconds at me while planning hours with him
We were both buried under different anguish
Now I use blame as the glasses I see you with
I won’t call you mom and dad because you are pa-rents
“Rent” because you are a temporary after thought
I was looking for someone who could love me permanently
You are incapable of that, bye
I don’t need you to reignite pain every holiday in your prepared ignorance
No more wasting fake smiles on fake people
Who hurt me
You used to do it every day
But now the holidays will be made with true ingredients
Me and my brother will celebrate together
We have a lot to celebrate, now that we’ve gotten rid of 2 manipulators
The overlook gene in my DNA has been initiated
Bye
©Kim B Miller
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Facilitator, Keynote Speaker, Author, Host
Award Winning Spoken Word Poet, Haikuist
Prince William County, Manassas & Manassas Park VA Poet Laureate Emerita
First African American Poet Laureate for PWC, VA
571-406-4965
@pwcpoetlaureate2020
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