“[Self-Advocacy] was born the first time a suspected changeling tried to run away before anyone could kill him.” - Mel Baggs, “The Meaning of Self-Advocacy”

my mother & father don’t respond to my calls;

they hit me to stop my crying  

or stick me with a hot poker.

they say i’m allergic to iron 

but i can bleed without my tongue swelling.

i kick and thrash

when they try to throw me 

into a blazing hearth.

i bite their hands when they offer me 

meals cooked in eggshells.

i could swallow it but 

wouldn’t that cut my throat? 

often, i overhear them calling me 

a “changeling.”

meaning: not “theirs.” 

meaning: not wanted

alive.

but, here i am: alive & someone else’s.

i will go 

                                                and find my true family in the woods.

                                                and i will run, calling, to them.

                                                and they will be able to hear my hands.