I always thought I was adopted,
Or maybe I wasn’t their daughter….
I’m the eldest of my siblings,
I was born normally,
With olive skin and curly hair.
But I was seen as dark-skinned, ugly, and with coarse hair.
Things got worse when my younger sister was born three years later.
She was born with pale skin and straight hair.
I love my sister,
And she is subject to other forms of bullying at home.
I was the one with the “coarse” hair,
Hair like a “brillo pad.”
They told me to brush my hair or “insects would start living in it.”

Then came puberty,
When most people either struggle with being under or overweight.
I was overweight,
And even though I wasn’t very fat or very dark-skinned,
My weight was still made fun of.
I was deprived of food sometimes,
Even though I truly wasn’t very fat,
But I wasn’t stick thin either.

All this bullying happened at home.
When I watched the cartoon “Reemy and Sally,”
I thought I was adopted and would be told so when I grew up.
Or maybe he wasn’t my father.
Maybe he was my stepfather.
Maybe that’s why I was going through all this.
Then I grew up,
And I discovered what I had inherited from my father,
Who bullied me and made fun of me.
My sister was different because she looked like our mother.
Even though I still struggle with the bullying,
And we all do,
I think that outside the house,
People see me as beautiful.
I see myself as normal-looking,
But I feel closer to beautiful than ugly,
Which is what I used to believe before.