What was
truth is dark medicine
with a teaspoon of honey
I swallow hard
keep it down
and it will set me free
forget everything, they say
forget what lies behind, run the race
redemption for
a half-life of lies
instead I’m mudlarking
hip waders swamped
by stagnant water
sucked into detritus
where turtles burrow
slow and silent in the dark
this is the way, they said
I was too young to argue
fight back
hindsight is tree tangled
deadfall
sun hazed and glaring
what have they done to me
what have they done?
masters of fence lines topped
in barbed wire, ripped flesh
hung as a warning
this is the way, they said
this is the only way
I am not a victim
I was gone
long before
the last word
shun
God loves me
God loves me not
God loves me
I was a good girl, scars
on fire with holiness
who are you to say otherwise?
LAE2017
BUDDY BREATHING 