Modest

I remember the first time you asked about my father, of all the insecurity I felt answering the question. No one had cared enough to ask before you. It caught me off guard. I felt my decency shatter.

My parents are cheaters, but I am not a secret. I have his eyes, his hair, his last name and his way with words. I have no good stories to tell you. I've never felt like I could show my parents off. Their love broke some other woman. Maybe their love was not love at all..

When you're an affair kid you don't get to make demands. You don't have any rights. You're as good as an undocumented worker. Life is hard labor for cheap pay.

I never liked asking for things
I know that I have no rights
I want to ask you to love me,
I just don't know how

the night before I got on the plane
you said you couldn't figure me out
that my pieces don't make a whole puzzle
but you accept it, you accept me

...I just don't know how
I want to ask you to love me
I know that I have no rights
I never liked asking for things