Family

Blood is thicker than water
He said
Family more loyal than friends
they'll always be around
fuck!...that’s it,
they'll always be around
you can't get fucking rid of them
they are like skin

a skin that holds you in

Like words in a verse
and that's the blessing

and that’s the curse

the curse of
the familiar
the familial
the family

the familiar family

the only one you will know

or at least have to be in

figure out, survive

get out, the other side

there
like furniture
annoying furniture
people furniture
furniture with feelings
and expectations
and moulds
and manipulation
and all those other gifts
we use to make the world
the way we wish it to be

parents wanting children

to be more like their parents

children wanting parents

to be more like children

everyone wanting something

from someone

other than what they

most naturally are

six narcissists in a house

…
sounds like the start of a joke
it kind of was
but not a funny one
not funny at all
rarely funny, or fun
mostly
awkward, at best
frustrating...infuriating
everyone clambering

to meet their needs
or deny their needs
finding voices, burying voices
both choices

as poisonous as the other

tears for lives unlived
tears for choices not made
tears for this

this mess, this shit
angry for this

this, the fire

the fire in which we are forged

the furnace

where only alchemy

can riddle us out

of the bad joke

wiggle us out

beyond the hedge

beyond the confines

beyond the pale

into

this

the

bleak

barren

plains

of

solitary

savage

wildness

outside

of

this

fucking

crazy

zoo

they

call

calamity

…

sorry

I

meant

family