Bowl of Sorrow

my eyes swollen, arousing now, the floor vanisheshobby horse clings to a ceiling that does not existfragments of skin reek of fear, never ceasingmy heart is pounding, breathless for airbecoming that boney, big-eared childyou are no longer kind to mepretending not to seefor I am cagednot free

compulsive

counting, countingdoing daily safety checksexhaustion visiting eyes of seven God ignoring pleas to go to heaven tiptoeing, tiptoeingever aware of sleeping beastglass floors cracking under toeswhile nervous fingers are picking nose

We Dance For Silence

Like a snake sheds his skin so go we, those of us who bravely venture onFilled with heightened senses as vigilantly, we quietly roam till dawn. Exposed our emotions on our shoulders perched like the raven black,Hearing whispers, feeling stares, why we grow eyes high upon our back. Lost amongst the others, those who gather, but wonder […]

My New Featured Post on Spillwords Press NYC, “Abuse Montage”

I wrote this poem about the abuse I suffered as a child from a child’s perspective. Many isolated children during this challenging time are at even greater risk. Children who suffer significant abuse often look and behave perfectly in public. abuse montage dark shadows are the sting of my lifememory clouded by waves of strifetiny […]

Lonely Employment

you ride your bike, crying down the hard dirt roadyour morning spent killing fliestheir price, a penny a carcasshanding me my money through the soul of their drunken hollowyou wonder, would they spend a penny for meI buy hot balls in a brown paper bag with my penniesthey torture my tongue, geographical as it wasit […]

Climbing Trees

Sweat oozed from my pores as I ran toward the barnSand spurs stung the bottoms of my fleeing feetAs I sprinted wildly toward Margie’s southern farmI prayed my drunk daddy would do me no harm In the woods, I had played with dollies and climbed treesThe big three, one with a treehouse I had visited […]

Making Eggs

Tied up, beat up, washcloth stuffed into her bruised mouthTwo legs and two arms tied to bedposts in a messy fashionMuffled screams came from their room quite a frightful sightHow was I to tell my mom a normal, love you, and good night Why didn’t he just shut the door and save me from this […]

No Real Danger

Panic seizes me like a panther stalks its prey for the kill, Unbiased to the weakness it seeks in the frailness, Of the wavering, unstable victim, as it waits, acutely surveying, Then moving silently, a short rush, a bite to the neck and it’s quelled! Like a dark shadow in an alley, poorly lit with […]