FERT

  I was dressed for success. Power suit? Check. Confident smile? Practiced in the mirror. Most importantly, in my pocket, a single, flawless PEN . Not just any pen. This was my symbol of authority. This was the instrument of my destiny. I signed the documents with a flourish, the nib gliding across the paper like a figure skater on fresh ice. The man across the desk, a CEO with a handshake like a vice, smiled. "Congratulations," he boomed. "You'll be credited by end of day." End of day! Me! The first billionaire in my family! The one who would finally buy my mother that house with the wrap-around porch ! The one who would pull up to family gatherings in a car that cost more than some people's homes ! All of it, every brick and every horsepower, was a reality I had just sealed with my PEN! I leaned back, picturing the headline: " Local Pen Enthusiast Becomes Overnight Success ." The feeling was so sweet, so real… BZZZZZZZZT. My elbow slipped off th...

The earth does not apologize for shaking. The rain does not ask permission before it falls. We invented guilt. Painted it on our ribs like a second skeleton, Then wondered why we couldn't stand up straight. Child of stardust and supernovas — You were not born broken. You were not assembled from other people's disappointments. There is no manual. There is no correct way to bloom . When your own mind becomes a courtroom, When the verdict has been rehearsed before you even speak; Ask yourself: Who taught you this script? Whose voice is this, wearing your mother's tone, your lover's disappointment, your own childhood fear? The dung beetle does not despise its work. The flower does not hide its roots. What you call waste, the tree calls wedding feast . What you call falling, the universe calls arrival. So let them keep their rules. Let them keep their sharp-edged words, Their tidy boxes, Their hunger for your shrinking. You are not theirs to diminish. You are the witness an...