Battered Beauty

spoken word piece for the "Pimp Daddy Poetry" contest

Bartered Beauty

for all the women in my life who this does not describe

A crime has been committed
and an angel took the fall
and no-one saw it happen
or questions who chained her to this dungeon wall.
She was fighting for your freedom
and she was awakening your Truth
when she was ambushed in your stairway
and thrown naked from your roof.

The angel’s wings are sorely broken
and manacles hold her fast
a trickle of blood is gently seeping
as feckless charges against her are amassed.
Do you see her body flinching
where fists have tattooed flowers?
Do you look away in boredom
while she whiles away these useless burdened hours?

She dines alone on your apathy
a poison more deadly by far than amanita
and with each freshly baked batch of derision
It is you what kills her spirit, Mamacita.
She once was your potential
and she would have boldly lived the dreams you sought
she should have served the world proudly
except for all the damned lies that you bought.

Don’t blame this on your daddy
or say, “well so-and-so stole my man”
Her fractions were long ago divided
solely by the arithmetic of your own hand.
Go down and meet her, and look her in the eyes
her power wasn’t stolen, as it only ever could be bartered
You sold her freedom for your comfort
when you told us all that you were martyred.

You prepare her daily poison and you reiterate the lies
each day you let it happen, each time you shirk the blame
and in the blasted remaining wasteland
your own heart you have forgotten, as well as your true name.
A crime has been committed
and your interior angel paid the cost
but still there’s time to save her
if you’re not too simply lazy to encounter what you lost.





 

Author's Note

written as a spoken word piece for a contest- when you read it, imagine it out loud

I have always despised learned helplessness, and think that many women give their own power away too easily. Imagine what would happen if we did not???

Reviews

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

WOW that is really gripping and powerful and the hard edged message is loud and clear... so many find this a taboo subject but it needs to be address... to many woman suffer from the abuse of a loved one, physical and mental... these are the guys with no self esteem of worth so they need to bring the woman beneath them to feel important. Very well spoken.

[Tomás Ó C..]

A great rhyme and a worthy winner of a poem...

[Jada]

We are rulers of the world. Sometimes i think we trip over our own feet.

[J.P. Bristow]

truly heartfelt and impactful--well done

[Jola]

If you hold love too little, flew, and if it pressed tightly together too tightly, you will die.

Tom T. Hall
Nice poem :)

[Through the Gateway]

Damn. Such a powerful piece, Marie. An outright call to self-martyred women of one caliber or another to take a stand. To stand up...against themselves. Truly an inspiring piece. Not just for those women who allow physical abuse, but to ALL of us who allow someone close to us to abuse us with our full permission.

Very well written.

[Lizanne]

You so well and eloquently speak of what so many women willingly do! There are many reasons that they give and none are good enough to merit this type of life. Did I say life. Hmmmm, this certainly is not living, but at you say a form of submitting to slavery. A spoken word piece for a contest? I hope this piece won. You certainly write with a powerful and highly skilled pen.

[Phibby Venable]

this is an incredible statement and poem. I love the language. Very fine work.

[Georgia Gypsy]

I think you did an amazing job writing this, it rings truth from the first line to the last! I so agree with you on how women get lost somehow in the shadows of men, I watched my mom do it, then i did it too...and i am trying to change that!....
so i love this piece and will read it often to remind myself of how to be my own person, and stop being the stereotypical person i was raised to be!!!!

Great job!!!

[cest la vie]

Ok, let me grab my mental voice back right quick. It momentarily ran into the street to shout this out LOUD.. This is a hard, wake your a*s up write..

Women with the ability to live beautiful, graceful lives take their power and serve it up to others on a grand silver platter. I want to stand on a soap box in town square and yell till I'm hoarse. I WAS one of those that gave it up. By the grace of something/someone I still retained a morsel and I nourished it until it -re-bloomed. It can be done, with attention to detail.

Marie, your writes always leave me feeling as if I just attended a wonderful symposium. So articulate, full of details and the all important factor, Leaving me disecting the message. Great writes do that, make us think, feel, deliver to the world. Excelente'