A friend’s husband of 11 years left her for her best friend.
“What a bastard!” we said.
“Poor girl”
We rallied round.
“We’re so surprised.” We said.
“You two always seemed so good together”.
Days passed and the shock and tears subside.
And then she confesses something that none of us expected.
“Yes this really hurts, but what I have never told you –
Is that he has been abusing me for years. These tears are also for all those times I could never tell you about.”
I wrote this after hearing what she told us.
I wrote it about her,
But also for the 1000’s of women going through abuse silently right now and
Still looking like the perfect couple.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
TELL SOMEONE.
YOU DESERVE TO BE SAFE,
TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT,
AND TO BE LOVED.
MAGNIFICENT COLLISION
It was a magnificent collision.
All twisted metal,
Broken glass,
Blood on the seats.
She hadn’t seen it coming.
He was driving,
He always did the driving.
They thought it was the crash that killed her.
But they were misled.
Distracted by jagged flesh and broken bones
They did not see the damage done during more private incidents.
You see
It was not his leaving that destroyed her
But all the years he stayed.
THE TILTED ROOM 