ABOUT THE POEM: “Precious Grabage” is a raw, self-pitying poem that explores a lifetime defined by profound humiliation and solitude. The narrator casts himself as a "lab rat" in a cruel experiment, subjected to repeated acts of dismissal and betrayal, ranging from a girl in school to a "friend in college." Reflecting on the shame and blame, the author concludes that his accumulated memory and wisdom, though hard-earned, feel like "precious garbage"—a lifelong, heavy burden carried by the sole remaining witness.Without fear, without regret,
from a point where there is nothing to lose,
with an open heart-they humiliated me.
From that girl in school
to a whore from the parlour,
sometimes I think I was made like a lab rat
for this experiment.
There is no one else
who has felt such disgust and is still alive.
There was a so-called friend in college
who left me standing in a line,
as if I were nobody.
We never spoke again.
Unsaid, unseen-I drift.
Shame, blame, game-
they moved on to live full lives.
I am crowning myself, alone:
the only witness alive.
My thoughts like a precious garbage.
I have spent a whole life alone.
I don’t even talk to myself-
whose mistake was it?
I just think
about what was,
and what happened.
