Against All Odds

A poem about what you learn when no one teaches you.

This piece is written and edited by me, a human.

Against All Odds

By someone who beat them.

I became something unexpected
in the hollow of your love—
rationed, with a price
I never stopped paying.

I became something loving
just because you starved me.
Yearning for scraps
I silently scavenged.

I became something defiant.
Even though you broke me
like something expendable
for your own freedom.

I became something real.
Exhausted, by performing 
the safety you demanded
to escape blame.

I became something other
than what you taught me.
Because the only thing I learned—
is to be nothing like you.

What did you learn against all odds?

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