Favorite Child
Lessons started young.
Sit up straight.
Don't talk back.
(No, really, Don't talk back…)
Control your thoughts.
Controlled thoughts.
Emotional roulette.
Tug-of-war.
Perfect grades,
Finally daddy's girl!
Boosted ego, boosted by daddy's wile.
Bats, balls, drills and cheers,
On his field...the perfect game
Games.
Manipulation.
Moving pieces and
Rule changes.
The fickle favor found so soon slowly transfers to someone new.
Their light grows bright while mine fades, daddy has never liked the shade.
Years pass.
Favorites change.
Heartbreak, Healing...Let go.
Favorite Child was never real.
Self-worth was always on the table,
But mine or his?
About the Creator
Michelle Gibson
In polite society, we call our obsessions hobbies. – Stephen King
Writing has been my lifelong hobby. Writing on Vocal feels like an opportunity to get feedback from like-minded souls. Constructive criticism is how we grow. Please comment.
Keep reading
More stories from Michelle Gibson and writers in Poets and other communities.
FPS: The Last Flame Challenge Winners
Welcome to our first Winners Announcement of the year and to the final challenge in the Fall Poetry Series. The Last Flame invited writers to sit with endings, using fire as a central image to consider what remains when something burns out: ash, warmth, memory, silence, or the faint promise of what comes next. The strongest pieces treated endings as gradual rather than sudden, allowing them to flicker, dim, and linger.
By Vocal Curation Team7 days ago in Resources
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.