Uncovered

Our Family has made a habit of moving from one home to another every two years or so for much of our history. Here in Mountain Town, though, we've broken the pattern and remained in one place for more than six years. Because of that, I forgot what has always been my favorite part of moving: discovering old treasures.

Yesterday while packing up my room I stumbled across a poem that seems to be from 2007 or 2008, which would have put me somewhere between eighteen and twenty years old at the time of composition.

The poem was about a then high-school-aged Powell, whose abusive behavior reached its worst at the same time that his drug use and social popularity were peaking. The piece proved to be chillingly prescient.

Here it is:

You made me feel unworthy
But I am not the one
You made me feel as if you were
A god lit by the sun

You made me feel unworthy
But that was never true
Beneath it the unworthy one
Has timelessly been you

You dared to touch me, dared to slap
And dared to strike my face
As if that daring lifted you
Up from your common place

You are the coarsest, vilest, worst
Most awful, wretched thing
However much you've clothed yourself
In gold, diamonds, and rings

The false mirage of your renown
Is vanished in my eyes
You really are a stupid boy
I've finally realized

When all is done and your pursuits
Exact their awful toll
As rest assured, they surely will
For Time's wheel always rolls

Then you'll be to the whole world
What you are now to me
Violent, horrid, fat, profane
Just oozing and ugly

Enjoy your reign before it ends
That end is coming near
The time when all your precious fans
Will from your pathway clear

You great dumb oaf, you demi-man
How far can this go on?
The tolerance for your abuse
Won't last for very long