the System

a poem about child abuse and the importance of stepping in before it's too late

She came from a small town

where everyone knew just what was up.

Everyone knew her crazy father

was the infamous town drunk.

He beat up on her mother

and molested her a couple of times.

She never told anybody what happened

and convinced herself it was fine.

She always tried to keep a low profile

so that nobody heard,

but with him high on meth all night

he created quite a stir.

The townspeople openly gossiped,

but nobody stepped in.

The system failed this girl

again and again.

 

As she became a teen

she turned the pain on herself,

pills, drink, and blades

began to line her shelves.

She became a "party girl",

and found herself gang raped.

Everyone knew who did it,

but wouldn't "snitch", so to say.

She told her mom,

and mom told her to drop it.

The system failed, should have done

something productive to stop this.

 

 

Her mom was a junkie

who tried to sell her when she was nine.

Her stepfather stepped in,

but he was anything but fine.

He would rape her while the mother

shot up her up with all sorts of drugs.

That was the only reason he kept her,

because he could use her however he want.

She ended up pregnant and had a daughter

with her stepfather, how sick.

But everyone turned a blind eye

to the blatantly obvious.

Social workers came and picked her up

when she was in her early teens,

but not because of her rape,

but because of her mothers using.

 

After living in group homes for years

and all she had been through,

she was gone forever,

insanity through and through.

Multiple personalities, bipolar,

homicidal tendencies and an addict;

A lost teenage girl with so-called

self-destructive habits.

At 18, her social worker

 let her out on her own,

and she had to know that she could not be

independantly productive on her own.

Now pregnant with no job,

once again the system failed her.

They let her out the group home even though

she did meth and cute weeks earlier.

 

Her whole family was unstable,

addicts and psych ward frequents.

A family of danger and unknowing,

of violent sequence.

Her mother is an addict

who stabbed her own daughter

with knives and needles

with no consequence or bother.

Imagine her fear, imagine her hate

when her grandmother put cigarettes out

on her young face.

How did the system never know

what went on behind closed doors

when she picked out all her hair

and was bloodied with sores?

 

Now she lives with that same grandma

but she’s stood up to her before,

so grandma doesn't beat or burn

her granddaughter anymore.

But the grandmother does verbally

break the teen down,

she bullies and hurts

and breaks the girl down.

So now she’s turned the hate back onto her self,

cutting and hair pulling,

wishing she could be someone else.

She's got bipolar and anorexic tendencies,

but has no insurance for help.

The system let her down,

her cries not felt.

 

I ask you this question:

what if someone had stepped in

and fought for these girls

like they would fight for their own kids?

What if the system had stepped in

and not turned back,

had provided quality therapy,

treatments, and rehabs?

 

What if it could have been stopped

before it got this far?

Would they be so broken,

so unstable, so “bizarre”?

 

These are all true stories

because I want to open people's eyes

to the reality of their neighbors,

loved ones, and people nearby.

 

If something seems off,

it probably is.

There’s only so much time

before you can’t step in.

Only so many years

til the scars are made

and before you know it,

it’s too late.

 

So if you see a child

who always seems standoffish,

or a kid who always has bruises

sitting in the office,

don’t be afraid to speak up

and take a stand,

because their future

may be in your hands.

 

Author's Note

All of these stories are true that friends have told me about their lives, and thereafter what their lives are like now. It bothers me that nobody ever stepped in and helped them when they were children and still had a fighting chance, before the damage was done.
Nevertheless, I'm pissed at the system, and at people in general. If you see something, say something.
I hope this poem spoke to someone, and I hope I don't offend.

Reviews

[Mark]

Thank you for being so brave. This poem is pours out pain and hurt like running water.
Perhaps the system has failed you, but don't you fail yourself. Keep writing and letting it out. Some of the greatest art is born of pain. As the saying goes" Paint the pain".....
Extremely powerful piece !!!

[unknowning]

this is a very moving and emotional poem while i was reading it i couldn't help but feel for the girls i loved it.

[Coyote Poetry]

The poem tell a real and sad story. Schools are short-handed. Kids are passed on without question why they are struggling. People turn a blind eye to things that should not happen. You brought to life many bad and dangerous situations. Your advice is wise. Someone look scare and they are struggling. We need to stop and find out why? Thank you for sharing the outstanding poetry.
Coyote