My Rebuttal Poem by Michael Jenkins

In a month, another birthday will pass;
should I be brash or be a gentleman with class?
Why would that be important you might ask;
well, to know that, you'd have to know my past.

I started life with odds against me
diagnoses of doom, prognoses of sadness
My mother just a teenager
confronted with all this madness

My doctors were all despondent
They didn't believe in my heart
They gave my mom bad advice
they suggested letting me go,
finishing me off without giving me a chance to start.

My grandmother was worried, afraid to believe
she suggested to my mother,
'Be prepared to grieve.'
She thought I wouldn't last too long
she was prepared to watch me die,
but she underestimated my will, my desire to fight,
my spirit to live, to have a chance at life.

I wasn't expected to live past 2,
then 5, then other ages,
but I just continued turning pages.
I wasn't expected to walk, talk, or other usual things,
but I do that, and in turn experience all that life brings.

Of course, I have trials
moments of exasperation
I'll probably always have to have operations
Yet I always remember
How many times my life was supposed to end.

I haven't accomplished everything I want yet,
and it's possible that I might not.
However, the fact that I had that chance
is, I must always remember,
attributed to the fact that I fought.

So, as I reach my 34th birthday,
in rememberance of all the obstacles I surpassed,
I think I've earned the right to be a little brash;
To all the docs who didn't believe,
you're just gonna have to kiss my...