learning to be a human from you
was awful
because you had no kindness
in your eyes
looking at those as a child
i know you used them against me
you knew you only needed
one mean look
one aggressive head turn in my direction
and i’d crumble beneath it
you always joked
“i never had to spank you dayna, just had to look at you wrong”
i always thought
i was so good
so quirky
so cute
but i was vulnerable & u used it against me
as a child
as an adult
the last time i saw you
you threw one last mean look at me
trying to manipulate me with your animal stare
i don’t know where u learned to do that
i don’t know why my heart stops & i feel like im being hunted
i don’t know why i ran
why i sobbed
but also
felt clarity
that was the last time you’d use your violent eyes against me
that was the last time
i’d tolerate it
Dayna Brockbank is a travel and language-learning blogger who has lived around the world but has now settled in Nice, France. She speaks 3 languages at varying levels of fluency: Spanish, Italian, and French, and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Spanish Education. She and her husband focus on making travel part of life by living cheaply and traveling on a budget.