Today, I spent two hours
on wasting days in the void of creation,
and I learned what emptiness is
Today, my father spent twenty minutes
on abusing my mother, to make sure
that she never forgets how worthless she is
Today, my younger brother spent five minutes
on using his tongue as a whip, guiding it with fury,
joining in on the good family fun
Today, I spent twenty minutes screaming my lungs out
even though all the banshees in my bones
clawed at my throat
Today, I had my finger glued on the call button
anticipating the coming need to call the police,
fearing every movement from the monster
Today, I displayed impressive agility
when I thoroughly demonstrated several times
how you move to dodge glasses flying in your direction
Today, I spent twenty minutes standing as a shield,
absorbing all the malice that runs in our family's blood,
hoping that I could prevent more of it spilling
Today, my father taught me what it feels like
to come so dangerously close to the edge that
you find pure murderous intent in
Today, my younger brother spent fifteen more minutes
eloquently portraying the extent of his hatred for me,
and every other sentence was "I hope you f-ing die"
Today, blood poured out of open wounds
on both my physical body and my soul,
yet no matter what they did, I did not break
Today, I'm proud of myself for once
because their power and pleasure was wounded
when I stood tall and did not let them break me
Today I won this battle, though wounded,
as soon as I managed to ride the storm
all the way past the finish line of their pride
