Wife Beating

I am kicking, screaming, pounding within your chest

My screams echo into whispers as I gasp for one more breath

Sinking, falling, drowning within my own wet eyes

Your reflection fading, I am awaiting my demise

I am a beating voice, my hands cannot be heard

I am grabbing, pulling, holding onto your heart with every word

I cannot let you go, though beating, without you I bleed

You are my heart, I am your heart, its each other we need

My love, my life

Your heart, your wife

Author's Note

* No, I am not being beaten by my husband. This is not a poem about domestic violence. Wife is used in metaphor as a heart. Heart beating = Wife beating

Reviews

[KurKota]

Powerful statement, effectively written !.....That is always a tragic, and to me as a male, confounding at best. I see guys like that as very insecure and pathetic from my perspective. However, in case I am misreading this piece, I best not say more about my feelings of same. But very effective and good writing ! An interesting link you have made within this work.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

There's all kinds of abuse...physical, verbal, emotional, psychological and neglect...just to name a few...but in the end we get the love we deserve because until we are empowered with the motivation to shape our own destiny we will be trampled by everyone. The meek inherit the earth in one way...six feet of it piled on top of a casket. So if anyone ever says, "I deserve better"...they need to make a step towards that direction...at a run rather than a walk.

[B-poet]

It's unfortunate that women stay with abusive spouses. How many times though does voluntary pain have to turn into undenying love. That's the million dollar question nowadays. You've summed it up very nicely overall within your poem though. Great job. :)

[Rob Santana]

Well done, but this piece pisses me off!! Reminds me of my mother always getting her asss kicked by my father, in front of me and my sisters. But yet she never left, never took us away from that horror. Check out my poem called HOUSE OF HORROR'S something similiar to this.

[AYVID N]

The spirit cries and protests so loud when this happens....
You have put it in words extremely eloquently!

[A. H. Pinley]

No room for such discourse. Women are to be cherished.

["writing by" KS]

I am actually lost for words.. as someone who has been through a similar experience.. I found it heart wrenching ..
Beautiful in its own right..
Quite simply ... Wow
Thank you x

[Zap-the-awesome]

That's... Interesting. Very good. I think I read it like three times and still had to look at the comments to confirm my suspicions that you were actually talking about the heart.

[James Hanna-Magill]

KeelyJane, thank you for posting this poem. Where I find its poignancy is in the love not yet lost behind all the pain and suffering. Whether you or not, the first person 'I' as it always does draws us in and creates intimacy. There is incomprehension at the treatment the beaten wife suffers at the hands of the beating husband. We all must ask at least two questions: 1) Why does he do it?; and 2) Why does she suffer it and not leave to live a happier life? I cannot answer question 1. Why is anyone violent to anyone? All I can observe from my experience of life is that violence is often directed at soft targets, at those who know us too well, at those who make us vulnerable and on whom we unleash our own vulnerabilities. As for question 2, I would advise anyone in this situation to try and talk it out but if all else fails, leave; walk. Life is too short and pain is too long. But why do we all not leave? Because the ties that bind are too strong, the complications are too many, the admission of failure to all so unthinkable and any stability we have earned too valuable to be easily lost. This is an intriguing poem. I am always drawn in by the personal and as they often say, the earliest writing of all writers strats with 'I'. So it should. This poem moved me. I hope it is not you who are being beaten. But if it is, heed my advice. Beautifully written and painfully real. Keep writing and above all about the thoughts and experiences you have to offer to the world, from which we can all learn. With my warmest regards, James

[KeelyJane]

No worries. The term "wife beating" is actually a metaphor . It simply refers to the wife as being the heart which is beating. Thank you for your comment and concern.

[Elvis Gilley]

I enjoyed this piece and the imagery which you used. Word choice was powerful and insightful. Thanks for sharing...e

[ashesonfire]

Rey powerful and beautiful! Not what I was expecting from the title! What an amazing piece :-D a very powerful statement, and strong words an imagery.