Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 18.224.200.110
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
Hate is a sharp inheritance. I did not ask for it. It grew in me like a second skeleton— not born, but built in the blue-lit silence after fists, in the wreckage of rooms where my name was a curse and my voice was a threat to authority. My family— a word that still makes my mouth taste like pennies— taught me that love was conditional, a ledger of wounds and withholding. They told me I was nothing, and I believed them, until I learned that hatred could speak louder than grief. I wore it like a crown. No, like barbed wire—wrapped tight, a defence that cut me while keeping others out. I hated them so much I began to look like them. And then I hated myself. I set my life on fire to stay warm. Ashes don’t judge, and pills don’t ask where you’ve been. Cocaine doesn’t care who you are. It just opens its arms and lets you forget. I disappeared into alleys, slept in the spaces between streetlights, made deals with men who had eyes like broken windows and promises stitched with rot. I stole. I lied. I bled on floors that had no memory of me. I called this freedom. But it was just exile with better lighting. I was dying—slowly, quietly, like a candle in a room with no air— and no one noticed. Except the hate. It always noticed. It whispered, “Good.” It wasn’t redemption that saved me. It wasn’t a miracle. It was exhaustion. One day, I just got tired of being hollow. Tired of the rage swallowing my name, tired of the story they wrote for me playing on repeat inside my skull. Forgiveness didn’t come like light. It came like water—slow, seeping through the cracks I didn’t know were still open. I didn’t forgive them to free them. I forgave them so they’d stop living inside me rent-free, destroying the furniture of my becoming. I started over—stone by stone, reminding my body it was not a crime scene. Telling my reflection: You are not what they did to you. You are not the bruises, the rage, the ache that made you use. You are not the hate that almost won. And now, I speak with a voice that carries weight, not weapons. I build with hands once taught to break. I am living proof that even scorched earth can choose to bloom.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required