Stress

Any organism that is under stress

or pressure from its environment,

and it has the capability to adapt

will become intelligent.

That’s what some scientist says about life on other planets.

I took it personally.

the story of my life

stress, adapt, epiphany, repeat.

My life has been extremely painful, but I have enjoyed living

Before the shithole foster homes,

there was vanilla ice and top ramen,

bars on windows

conditional love is a psych-trip

cockroaches, pet rats, bananas crammed into the sink

overflowing, a demonic thing awakens, toddler gets purple legs

I called the police from a phone booth on the corner

it was a tall world,

they hide their drugs in my little brother’s crib

I told the lady in the phone

my rats died in the bathtub, all five of them,

swimming in circles, unable to adapt