{"id":116881,"date":"2022-06-25T21:32:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T01:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/?p=116881"},"modified":"2022-06-27T20:17:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T00:17:59","slug":"poem-13-sometimes-a-bad-thing-can-push-you-to-a-good-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/poem-13-sometimes-a-bad-thing-can-push-you-to-a-good-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem 13. Sometimes a Bad Thing Can Push You to a Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

She could pinch on the<\/span>
\ninside of your arm with her <\/span>
\nthumb and index nails<\/span>
\nso fast and hard a bruise rose <\/span>
\nimmediately, water<\/span><\/p>\n

spilled out of your eyes <\/span>
\nas a reflex, and if you <\/span>
\nflinched, you got one more.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wore sleeves for five<\/span>
\nyears, kept my hear down, sang all<\/span>
\nthe right notes… always. <\/span><\/p>\n

They say a little<\/span>
\nblack dress, the right one, will change<\/span>
\nyour life, and it’s true.<\/span>
\nI wanted that sleek sleeveless <\/span>
\nshift more than her approval<\/span><\/p>\n

more than her threats of<\/span>
\nnever being good enough <\/span>
\nfor her, more than her<\/span>
\nintimidations, and her<\/span>
\npromises of leaving me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That little black dress<\/span>
\nsaved me. In the shower one<\/span>
\nmorning, she grabbed my<\/span>
\nupper arm. Seering hot pain<\/span>
\nblew through me to my fingers<\/span><\/p>\n

familiar blood welts<\/span>
\nmade crescent shapes in my flesh.<\/span>
\nThat afternoon I<\/span>
\nbought the dress. I left her that<\/span>
\nnight, and I never went back.<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t wear the<\/span>
\ndress for almost a year. When<\/span>
\nI finally did<\/span>
\nmy arms were clear, and my head <\/span>
\nwas clear, and my heart was healed. <\/span><\/p>\n

And I looked fabulous.<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She could pinch on the inside of your arm with her thumb and index nails so fast and hard a bruise rose immediately, water spilled out of your eyes as a reflex, and if you flinched, you got one more. I wore sleeves for five…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1305,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123966,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116881\/revisions\/123966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}