When I was a young and naïve boy
I built a house of cards,
And each card had a different story
A different name
A different life,
And each time I wrecked that house
I saw those individuals’ dreams destroyed
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My father often told me that the bottom cards
Were only there for one reason
And that was to hold up the other cards,
It was the job of the higher cards to use the lower cards to their advantage
To break them,
He said that naming the cards was stupid (especially the lower ones)
And that no one cares about the individuals
Just about how they work together
And that is how it is supposed to be.
My father uses people every second of his life
To get rich
To be strong
To be perfect,
To achieve his one true dream,
His dream of perfection
His dream of being the dominant race
And that is how he got on top of the world,
He looks down upon everyone
As if he is a mighty king
Ruling over his subjects,
And that is how he raised me
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I am young and bold and vibrant
With many different friends,
Forty pairs of eyes gathered together
Each with different skin and hair and physical image
Different voice clouded the air as life was expressed in its most basic form,
Who have many different dreams,
Of being perfect in their parents’ eyes
Being able to see diverse groups of people walk together without persecution
Appearing beautiful while hiding their true selves,
And my father says that they hold me up
So I am on top of my own house of cards,
His dream is for me to be perfect
And exactly like him
And that is how it is supposed to be.

He says that I must watch these people’s dreams be crushed
Because that will make me stronger
And a man
Just like him
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I watch my friends crumble,
Their hearts being torn apart
By the world who can’t accept them
Their soul being shredded
Because of being forced to hide their true selves
Their dreams being destroyed
Because of life taking a deadly turn,
And I have found that none of them are truly like me,
They don’t have the life that I have
They struggle to conform
To be who they are expected to be
While their dreams are telling them to break free
And society can no longer hold them,
These are their stories
And they are how they are supposed to be.
According to my father.

That sweet little sister of mine
Became pregnant at sixteen
And is now a bride-to-be,
She lives with that man
The one who causes bruises on her arms
Who crushed her spirit,
She has no hope for a better life
Her dream has been tarnished,
Her dream to break free
And be important,
To finally show our father
How successful she can be,
Her beautiful dream of going to college and getting a career
The dream of independence that our father so desperately wants to destroy
But that father of ours
Wouldn’t take no for an answer,
So he forced her to get pregnant
By a man whom he knows can control my wild sister
Our father had that man take her
Until she was with child,
And relished the fact that she is now
In
Her
Place,
A wife
A mother
A truly docile girl
With no hope for a better life,
I watch her card fall
As her spirit and her life fades from her eyes
She no longer has anything worth living or fighting for
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My rich and strong and perfect brother
Can do no wrong in my father’s eyes,
He uses people
Breaks them
Until they beg for mercy
Because he doesn’t take “no” for an answer,
He got a poor girl pregnant
Yet he has a mistress on the side,
Our father told her that he wouldn’t let his son marry a slut like her
Yet he forced my sister’s upcoming marriage,
My brother denies his child (the one with his girlfriend)
And he parades his mistress around in front of the girl,
His dream was to become just like our father
And he has
Cruel
Ruthless
Arrogant
Perfect in the eyes of our father,
A millionaire computer programmer,
He is on top of the world
His world
And he has his own house of cards
Right next to mine,
But his is taller
Because he is strong and powerful and perfect
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My friend is an incredibly bright girl,
She outshines everyone
Including the guys
In every single class,
All of the guys despise her,
Her father is only concerned with finding her a rich husband,
She is constantly abused by all of the guys
Yet she is still the top of the class,
I once asked her why she continues to show how smart she is
If all that it brings her is pain,
Her face lit up
She wants to go to college
And not have to depend on some guy,
Her dream
Is to show the world how amazing women are,
By going into politics
And making equal rules for all,
How much women could help
If they were given the chance,
She doesn’t care about the money
Or the fame
Only equality,
She is always talking about how men oppress women
Because they know that women can achieve
Just as much as they can,
She always gets in trouble for saying that,
One day it went too far
We were walking home from school
And guys started walking toward us,
They shot her
Because she expressed her opinion,
Her dream of equality was gone
And her blood covered my hands
As she took her last breaths,
The hope was extinguished
Her body had given up,
Her card folded in on itself
Unable to support the luminous soul
That no longer existed,
My house of cards was no longer so strong
Everyone who was supposed to be holding me up
Could no longer support themselves,
She died
In
My
Arms
I felt her last breath,
Her dad said good riddance
Because no guy would have wanted her anyway
He didn’t share her dream of equality
He favored an oppressed America,
I will always remember her face,
Her rich blue eyes going paler by the second
Her skin becoming as cold as an ice skating rink
Her lips losing the rosy color that made them so appealing,
They killed her because she had an opinion
And a dream for a better life
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I have a friend
Who is wickedly smart,
All of the guys were jealous
That he knew so much
And that all of the girls flocked to him,
Because he would become rich
And the girls wanted everything that his position could give to them
Wealth
Power
Fame
And he gave everything he had to those gold diggers,
His dream
To be rich
And powerful
And to make other guys jealous
Which he accomplished,
His dream of college was fulfilled
When he was accepted into Oxford,
But not once was his dream to be happy
So he never truly was
Even though he had everything
That anyone could have ever wanted,
One day his card simply disappeared
Just like he did
When people found out
He was going bankrupt,
He could no longer imagine
Being a poor and unimportant man,
He became rich again
By investing in the stock market
But his card never returned to my house
Because he had no more dreams,
He was just
Rich
Powerful
And he made other guys jealous,
Jealous of his money and his wife and his house
Those men wanted to be able to have everything he did,
Their faces went green with envy
And their eyes went as round as a penny
And that is how it is supposed to be.

There are twins at our school
They are Jewish
And they came from Russia,
They were talented
And could always make people laugh,
They both wanted to be lawyers
And make sure that justice was bestowed to everyone
But they were teased
And were told that their dreams weren’t valid in America
Because they weren’t Americans,
No American Dream for them,
They came to America hoping for a successful life
But there was no hope for them here,
Their card walked off
When they went back to Russia
With their dreams crushed
Because they weren’t Americans,
Foreigners are said to be evil
With no heart
And no soul
And no American Dream,
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My tower was now one lever shorter
Because so many dreams had been razed,
My father told me that more people would come
And take their place
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I have a friend
Who has darker skin than the rest of us
Guys truly thought that she was beautiful,
She had rich caramel skin
Hair as black as a raven’s wing
Lips as red as blood,
She has little money
But she is happy to be the person she is,
She always included everyone
No matter who they were,
Her dream was simple
Or so she thought,
She wanted to live a
Long
Happy
Life
With a man who loved her,
She didn’t care if he was
Rich or powerful
But her family had other plans,
They married her off to a man
Thirty years her senior
At the age of fifteen,
He beat her
Endlessly,
But he had money
And that was what her family was after,
She rarely went outside
Because she was terrified
Terrified of her husband’s wrath,
Her dream of a happy life
Was no longer reachable,
What seemed like a simple dream
Became a curse
That showed her what she could never have,
Her card was battered and bruised
By the time it caved over,
Because her joyful dream
Of living a life of love
Was no longer able to survive
Because of the curse she was given
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I had a friend
With skin as dark as chocolate,
He was strong
And brave
And he had his entire life ahead of him,
He was popular among the young and the old African Americans
And had many followers,
He hoped for one thing in life
Equality,
He wanted to be able to see African Americans and whites walking hand-in-hand
Their love more powerful than their hate,
He fought
For African Americans
To be equal to whites,
He led marches
And gave speeches,
Preaching about equality and love and happiness
He would stand on a stage and look down among the people
And treat them all as his equals
And was loved by many,
He worked tirelessly to achieve his dream
And life improved,
He was always
Strong
Independent
Brave
People constantly followed him,
His card was
Proud and stable
And it took a while for it to fall,
But it did (all of them do eventually)
When he saw African Americans
Being cruel to each other,
The life faded from him
And his card now slumped to the ground
Because he couldn’t believe the people he fought for
Fought each other,
They yelled in the streets
And robbed each other’s houses
And beat one another until they were inches from death,
He stopped working
And gave up hope
Because his dream couldn’t be accomplished
And that is how it is supposed to be.

There was a girl at school
Who had no money
But a lot of love in life,
Her parents worked long hours every day
Picking up trash on the side of the road
And made nothing
Compared to what they deserved,
They tried to give her all she needed,
Durable clothes
A good car
And pretty jewelry,
But nothing was enough for her
She wanted everything,
A perfect life
Expensive clothes
Everything that she couldn’t have,
She dreamed of having money
To spend on whatever she pleased,
To accomplish her dream
She lied
She stole
To achieve her dream of wealth and power and fame and perfection,
She thought nothing could stop her
Until she was caught
Breaking into a jewelry store
And was taken away forever,
Her card fell
When she was arrested,
And sent to jail for five years,
Because it was cracked
With the web of lies she concocted,
Her little dream of wealth
Cost her a great deal of money
And life
And that is how it is supposed to be.

There was a girl at school
Who had everything she could have ever wanted,
She was smart
Talented,
With an exotic singing voice
She could play seven instruments
And was an amazing chef,
And had a loving family,
They had money
But they weren’t rich,
Everyone felt like they were her friend,
They surrounded her in the cafeteria
And always rushed to sit right next to her
And they felt like they were that one special person in her life,
Until she stopped coming to school one day,
Suddenly the money they had
Was no longer there,
She was in the hospital
Stage three brain cancer,
Her dream was to go to college
And help her family run their catering business,
She didn’t care about
Money
Power
Fame
Only her family’s happiness
And now that would never happen,
I visited her once
She was so pale
Skinny
She would barely eat,
Her eyes were sunken into her skull
Her veins were dominant blue and red rivers running through her body
Her bones could be seen protruding out of her at all different angles,
She said she wasn’t giving up
But I could see that she already had,
She knew how much the bills cost
And she didn’t want her parents to keep paying,
All of those people who were supposedly her friends
Ditched her,
They left her like a cat leaves a mouse for dead on the side of the road
They left her wondering what she did wrong for them to abandon her
In her greatest time of need,
They acted like they would catch it
Her cancer,
And she was left alone,
She died
Two months later,
She gave all of her money to her parents
The money from her job at the supermarket
And told them to pay off the bills
She was always a giving soul,
All of her “friends”
Came to her funeral
And acted heartbroken,
Only she and I knew the truth,
They didn’t really care
But they were all good actors,
Her card
Was pale and wrinkly
When it blew away in the wind like an angel flying
Just like her,
She tried
But could no longer hold on,
She needed people
To help accomplish her dream
But no one was there
When she really needed them
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My house of cards is gone,
Everyone’s dreams died
No matter how hard they tried
To get them back,
I am truly alone,
My father says the only way to be successful
Is to not depend on people to always be there,
So it is our job to use humans,
To watch their dreams and lives breaks apart
While we take all of their happiness and wealth
While we still can,
And that is how it is supposed to be.

And now
It is time
For my story,
The boy with
Different friends
And different dreams,
I just wanted them to be able to accomplish their dreams
And escape their realities,
I wanted their lives to be perfect
None of them deserved the lives they were given,
And that was my dream
To make everyone happy
To make everyone appreciate me,
Because image is important
According to my father,
My house of cards
Has only me left,
I am no longer at the top
But I am not at the bottom
I am alone,
And that makes me depressed
Because I need someone,
Anyone,
To help me stand tall
While my house crumbles around me,
When I see my card
Its heart is ripped
Into tiny pieces,
It is no longer whole
And neither am I,
My father says it takes a lot
To get where we are,
We are on top of the world
Looking down on the peasants and observing their fulfilled lives
And their joy is unexpectedly pulled out from under their feet,
We have to destroy
In order to achieve
Our dreams
And that is how it is supposed to be.

My father often told me that the bottom cards
Were only there for one reason
And that was to hold up the other cards,
It was the job of the higher cards to use the lower cards to their advantage
To break them,
He said that naming the cards was stupid (especially the lower ones)
And that no one cares about the individuals
Just about how they work together
And that is how it is supposed to be.

I didn’t break the cards,
They broke me
Because I felt as if every one of those people abandoned me
At the exact time when I needed them the most,
I feel empty
Like a river with no water
No animals
No plants
No air
I can’t breathe,
My dreams disappeared
Just like the others’ dreams did,
My father says that I should be happy
To be
Rich
Powerful
Famous,
I should be happy to be
Just
Like
Him,
Tall
Handsome
The image of perfection,
I should be happy to have people cowering
Shivering with fear
At my feet
Afraid for their lives
If they make one wrong move,
And that is how it is supposed to be.
My father never thought
That I might have my own ideas
Of the great
American Dream,
I want to change the world
And complete the dreams
The others couldn’t,
I can rebuild my house of cards
With the strength it never had before,
My father says that I don’t need my own dreams
Because he has dreams for me,
And he is in control of my life
And that is how it will always be
And that is how it is supposed to be.

Or is it?