Roses For Souls
How long the soilhoused tiny souls, pleas ignored –crimes leave footprintsPlant a rose for each childblood red to mark evil’s path. (Image my own. Poem borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson)
Read MoreCategory: abuse
Sisterly Love
It’s just a moth, I offeredthat blue moon nightrattling windowschafing nerves We’d chosen exile –sister and I – refuge from family demons, not ours to claim Innocence borrowsresponsibility – I boreit like a badge;she shattered Could not discriminatedarkness from her owninner light – soughtto end the fury I’ll carry us both,I murmured, too youngto recognize […]
Read MoreTired of Same Old Endings
Tired of same old endingsin which hopes are slaughteredand tragedy and insanity win. Raised by the bottle, learnedto set standards low –still afraid of heights –have fallen as the groundbeneath my aspirations crumbled –a certainly under alcohol’s rule. Tired of same old endingsin which self is battered by indifferenceand ego loses the battle for control. […]
Read MoreFetch
Father taught us to fetch –What else are children for? I did not like his demeaning sneernor the way he lorded control Mother learned to ask how highwhen he snapped: “Jump!” I vowed to be differentto never let him break me But his arms were strongerand my fear real, and so From my father, I’ve […]
Read MoreDig
Some memoriestoo darklie buriedbeneath this hide Secreted to forgotten chambersI obsess over ideologiescrave peace Only an archeological digcan set that dream in motion. (Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)
Read MoreQuantity and Quality
Raised in a battlefieldquantity doled outin abuse, qualitynot yet defined Now I write myselfout of the darknesseach chapteran uphill climb Page by pagereconciliationno shortage of wordsvalue between lines. (Image my own.)
Read MoreWayward Daughter
(Warning: this poem discusses the effects of sexual assault, and may be disturbing to some readers.) Back and forth I travel, searchingfor her – retrace every bend, curve,detour – back to the water, the sand,the beach where I lost her…haunted by velvet brown eyes – bedroom eyes,they told her, men with greedy loins,calculating – I […]
Read MoreJust a Dummy
Words are not my ownwits hapless That rendezvous with the devil sealed it – Free will for loveI’d bargained Ache of lonelinesstoo much to bear – Now I’m just a puppetventriloquist’s dummy Ask a questionwatch him work my strings. (Image my own.)
Read MoreHiding Shame
When did guilt obviatethe need for sustenance? This deipnophobia paralyzingheartless stares dredge up my truth: insatiable hungerneed to stuff down emotion the certainty that I deservedthe abuse – endless shame My fork traces the outlinesseparates food groups My mind makes mental notesof what I’ll gorge on later. (Deipnophobia is the fear of dining in public. […]
Read MoreToxic
I drink the backwashof hollowed out promises Is it me, invites indifferenceexpectations so low, selfgowned in layered shame? How do I learn otherwisebreak this toxic patternif not in pursuit of love? (Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)
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