What happens when home - the safest place a child should have - becomes a nightmare, because there is a human monster lurking about?
This is far from the best palindrome, but the thoughts wouldn't go away, so I wrote it, and decency be damned. Sexual abuse of children happens in the home far too often, and it NEEDS to be addressed.
DAY 22: ‘ZIA’S NINE. SHE REFUSES TO SLEEP
WITHOUT A NIGHTLIGHT, SAYS THERE ARE MONSTERS. OH NO, WE DIDN’T INSTALL ONE. MY
HUSBAND SAID SHE WAS JUST BEING SILLY.’
Here be
monsters
Always.
But Mummy says there are none.
Door
opens. Monster eyes. Daddy’s face. Daddy’s
Dark
like monsters.
Must I? Yes, says Daddy.
Daddy
says Yes I must.
Monsters
like dark.
Daddy’s
face, Daddy’s eyes. Monster opens door.
None are
there, says Mummy. But always
Monsters
be here.
2 comments:
Yes, it happens all too often, and even these days, people are quick to put on their blindfolds and pretend it doesn't exist.
Your poem captured the essence of the sick, helpless feeling that a victim of these violations feels.
Cara: I know! It's just awful, and I get so *angry* that it gets put under wraps. Here the family usually hushes it up, or, worse yet, puts all the blame on the child for either making up stories or 'causing' it. It's despicable.
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