Twelve next month, that preteen brink.

I have a new step-daddy,

a new baby sister too!

Momma is so happy, I think-

                  with everyone but you.

 

Says I must deserve the welt

from the tops of my feet to my

shoulders

she shrugs,

He wields a braided belt.

 

He says, “stand still or you’ll get more”.

The bruises are kept covered.

We never see Grandma anymore.

Uncles that doted on me,

removed to a distant shore.

 

The new uncles are his brothers,

the “love” a different kind.

Pain, much deeper than my skin.

Locked in my bedroom – I scream- I beg- I holler-

she doesn’t even try to come in.

 

Thirty years long past-

I scream, I beg, I holler.

Still, nightmare visits blast.

Please somebody wake me-

out of this forever, take me.

 

By-gone, but not forgotten are

the terrors of

my life-

embarrassed and ashamed,

I can be nobodies wife.