HEREDITARY

How boring.
To uncrown this barbed impulse
as hereditary. I weaned it
in my raging belly, fed it
like any daughter.
I was made a daughter
so he’ll never think of me as a threat.

Death is quick, death means forgetting:
lady vengeance’s gifts.
Consider yourself lucky. I didn’t get the soft exit.
Ignored the pill bottle’s siren call,
until every callus became a righteous memory:
my choice
over nature or nurture.

The villain keeps running.
He knows. Blood is the only thing
we share. When I hunt him down, he crumples
into a whimper.
All men become pathetic
when faced with their better
reflection. Generations after,
when my word is bent by retellings.
Keep the climax as his split jugular
in the flickering eternity of this moment.

---

Michelle Lin, 23, USA ✯ IG: @michellelinofficial ✯ www.michelleannelin.com

“Michelle Lin is a storyteller. Her work focuses on matriarchal family relations, diaspora, girlhood, and monstrosity. Michelle's spoken word poetry is featured on Button Poetry and her other work is in The Offing, Contemporary Verse 2, among others. 
Michelle graduated from Kenyon College in the spring of 2023. She studied Creative Writing and English and French Literature. At The Kenyon Review, she has worked as the copyediting, editorial, and social media intern. Michelle calls Toronto home but currently resides in the US. You can find more of her work at www.michelleannelin.com.”