my life
by Genevieve Petty
there were people who said i would never amount to anything
i wouldn't make it
because i'm from the wrong side of the family
the wrong side of the tracks
and i never settled down
long enough to call any place but Edmonson home
because i'm different
i don't walk the walk
or talk the talk
or play the game
of fitting in and being normal
because i'm just me
take it or leave it
because i'm a bastard
and just a darn hillbilly
redneck
country kentuckian
and none of them ever amount to anything anyway
because i'm poor
and always have been
because i've got champagne tastes
and a kool-aid pocket book
not beer, though that's the usual phrase
because i can't save money
cause i don't make enough
and i still like to live the way i want
because i'm always fighting
to keep the wolves at bay
because i dropped out of high school
i lived in a homeless shelter
i tried to die in the sixth grade
i never stopped believing i could have Edmonson back
because people believed i worshiped satan
because i wear lots of black
i like rock-n-roll
i play dungeons and dragons
i study magick
because i rejected christianity
and institutional religion
because i was heavy
and i wasn't pretty
and i wouldn't try to look
the way other people thought i should look
but you know what?
they're wrong
because now i'm in college
and i've got a good gpa
if not a perfect one
no one is perfect
and i've got a steady job
and i've got friends
and i finally found a religion
that accepts who i am
and doesn't try to change me or control me
and i got out to do things
and i'm trying to
conquer my fears
and i haven't lost weight and still don't like the way i look
but i'm working on that
because i'm alive and i'm free
and i no longer care what other people think i should be