“Birth/ Of An Ungrateful/ Child” by Anonymous, Class of 2020
Growing up having parents
but living without them
was a bizarre experience
I was always living life
just going through the motions
I told everyone, “Yeah, I miss my parents”
of course, “I love my parents”
But deep inside, I’d begun distancing myself
saying only these words because they were expected of me
not because I genuinely felt them
School was my escape from dreadful reality
because back “home” I only felt sympathy
from relatives, who I felt, only paid attention, because they felt sorry
Unconsciously, I had been harboring, deep down, deep hatred for my parents
Because they left me,
because I had to live like that
Instead of being grateful I lived a comfortable life,
I imagined us poorer, but together and happy
Whoever told them to go after the American Dream?
why didn’t they ask me about mine?
ARTIST STATEMENT
This is a short story about my childhood. It's a disjointed recollection of how I felt growing up with absentee parents, how I slowly emotionally distanced myself from them as a coping mechanism.
“The Gods of Dreams by David Krause” by Danny Vesurai, Class of 2022 →