and hypothetically
I was listening
he watched me fail
he watched me grow up
and fuck up
I got sent home from school
because I tried too hard
to write punch lines
as a means of compensating
for being one
he tore into me
and I cried
and I cried because he was right
and I was wrong
I always tried to make sure
it was someone else
but the root of all my problems
was me
and from me
grew a tree
of unripe and overly ripe
apples
that loved ones
picked off and ate
believing in its nutritional value
only to find the dead worm at the center
after they had consumed it for all it was worth
when I ran out of my dorm room
I puked
with my head above the toilet
I thought non-hypothetically
and I started living
in actuality
with the wisdom
that he had tried to instill in me
from that first moment
I defied him
I got into shape
physically and mentally
defeated obesity
defeated myself
got a 4.0
loved someone
loved people I hated
and wore my failures
like a tattoo
my failures are my greatest possession
without them and without him
I would be nothing
This poem is so very wonderful!
wow.