for the man who ruined my life

"how has life been?" the words rushed out like an obligation.

when I was 14, a man came into my life

prying the wings from my shoulder blades,

just to see me bleed.

roots of rage stemmed from the pit of my stomach,

determined to kill him if his fingers ever even grazed my skin.

bruises and blood occupied my mother's skin,

she treated them as if they were marks of love.

I'll never forget the night he shouted at her,

convincing her I'll never be good enough.

my hands shook until he knocked me on my feet,

until I screamed at the moon for cursing me.

he'll never be the one to extinguish the flames in my eyes,

I will face God and walk backwards into hell and rip his heart out,

just to see him bleed.

but all I said was, "life is good, who's asking?"

Reviews

[barleygirl]

INCREDIBLE! I love the way you start out your message with a brief glimpse of the polite outer countenance . . . then you take a DEEP DIVE into the messy memories (so intensely expressed, I completely forgot about the polite opening) . . . and the ending slaps me across the face, bringing me back to that simple polite act . . . that act I know so well as the daughter of a serial child rapist. A perfect bit of word crafting: "the words rushed out like an obligation"

[Coyote Poetry]

Direct, honest and powerful poetry. I felt the anger and the need to make someone pay. Nice ending to the outstanding poetry.
Coyote

[Lydia Shutter]

When someone hurts you that deeply, you don't even want them to know they had that power over you. Saying you are doing well is the best answer to protect yourself! Raw and honest emotion in this one expressed well. Lydi**