had death afflicted me before I ever lived
you would be a Texan
I could almost picture you
young, beautiful, and stressless
without the stretch marks across your belly
driving around in your two-door
blasting R & B in the Texas heat
had you went to the surgeons to have me removed prematurely
you would have never tried to stay with him
your heart
your pelvis
would have never been scarred
in my removal from you
I was born with a bad omen
with a nuchal cord
I still wonder if you have regrerts
had you unlocked the shackles
of me at seventeen
and left me to the world
would you be happier?
but instead you kept me out of faithful love and I dare to wonder
did you make a mistake?
Kalvin Verner is a high school junior from Kansas City, MO. As a young child up to now, he has always enjoyed reading poetry but never got into writing poetry until early 2020. Verner has previously won a Scholastic Honorable Mention for his poetry, and he plans to continue expressing himself with words.