maybe to force me to shrink to a size you could manage—
small enough to control,
small so you would always be bigger.
I knew that smallness, lived it for years,
diminished by your put-downs, the guilt you
laid on my shoulders to keep me
shrunken, less than, making me think it was
benevolent of you to love me.
Your big threats stirred something in me,
something that had not dried up by your abuse
and I rose up by your rejection,
reclaimed myself, set myself free.
There was enough of me without you,
more than enough to thrive, to shine,
to live fully alive.