Brandon Townsend

Infant:

You birthed me thoughtlessly,

To appease a god that never showed any care for you.

When you look in my eyes—

It is vacantly.

When your heart beats—

It is tonelessly.

Now I suffer. Because my body neglects me,

As you do.

 

Mother:

You were conceived by me and a breeze.

Without any opportunity for escape—

It was my religious duty to carry and birth you.

Given by an indifferent god,

Who for my entire life looks through me,

Then squints dismissively,

Then looks away.

And that is how I most closely understand love.