Equations by Unknown

I don’t really know what love looks like

except for a double-edged sword

a qualification if certain

a, b, and c

conditions are met

space

I used to make so many excuses

for my mother

she was young

she didn’t have a choice

but there came a time when she could

have used her voice for me

and didn’t

space

I don’t really know what home looks like

except for a double-edged sword

familial chatter

interrupted

he never raised his voice

but it was lethal

we kids developed intuition

and mother’s timid silence said

“You can only do a, b, and c, 

when your father isn’t home”—

life was better 

mum was happy

we loved him more

when he was gone

space

I don’t really know what life looks like

except for a double-edged sword

she taught me

that believing I could do

anything was just a 

childish fantasy

and that whatever I craved

was unjustified

space

my a, b, c’s of wild dreams

a destiny of hopelessness

she taught me how to cower

and how to inhabit blame

space

but not to live

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