Originally published at The Chaos Section in 2013.

I will be the son
of fathers good and bad.
I will be the dad
someone never had.

I will be the laborer
in factories big and small.
I will climb and fall,
and mortar my own wall.

I will be the madman
in a suit of eccentricity,
drowning in publicity—
only true friends can find me.

I will be the servant
of the master of my choosing,
a slave bearing the bruising
in a struggle to keep from losing.

I will be the hero
and the villain all in one.
I will never be done
with the love of the run.

I will be the bankrupt—
of heart, respect, and wit.
Offended when I speak or spit?
I don’t give a shit.

I will be the dreamer
of a better, greater reality.
Humanity, meet humanity—
and no god to judge me.

I will be your love.
I will be your bane.
Good, evil, heart, brain—
I will be insane.

I will be the contradiction,
making peace with war.
No justice, no peace.
More war.
More war.
More war.

I will be what you say,
whether or not I say I am.
Judgment passes through invisible hands—
God is good with a good god-damn.

I won’t see what you don’t.
I will be what you see.
Do you see what I see?
Individually free. Individually.

I will be being me—
whoever that is.

by Anne Kapp