Teenage Hooligan: An Original Poetry Chapbook

An Ode To My Enemies

February 26th, 2020
16 Years Old

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The religion I've grown up in tells you to love your enemies.
When told this, you would expect someone who stole your pencil,
someone who broke into your home,
someone who would spread rumors behind your back.

What people don't realize, is you can be your own enemy.
How many times have we spent half hours sitting in front of the mirror picking out every single little negative thing we could about ourselves until we can no longer see how gorgeous we truly are.
Getting ready for a party and putting on makeup or tying that bowtie just to realize how crooked we are.

So when I heard "love your enemies",
I took that to heart and I decided to work on loving myself.
Loving my worst enemy.
As much as I would love to point fingers at other people it won't get me anywhere.
You cannot change the past,

I cannot make peace with all the enemies I've ever had in my entire life.
It's like counting the grains of sand on the beach of my depression.
It's just sitting and sadness, wondering why I can't count all of them and hating myself for it.
I've learned to sit in front of the mirror,
And instead of seeing every single acne scar or pimple on my face, I see every single freckle...
I see the blue in my eyes
I see my crooked nose and smile at it.
I see how beautiful my smile is for once.

And I'm loving my enemy... I continue loving my enemy.
I love my anxiety and the way that you may love your siblings.
You hate them, but at the same time they have taught you a lesson that no one else ever has been able to.

Personal experience can be the worst thing in your life but also the best.
So this is an ode to my enemies. Thank you for pushing me down, rocking me to where you think
I'll just crumble in the dust.

Because all it has done is made me stronger and realize just how worthy I am.

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