My father\u2019s screams get louder as my mother scrambles to help his pain.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t take the sound of my big strong father in agony, and I cover my ears.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My heart races as panic rises within me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m afraid to leave my bed but I gather the courage and run to my closet.<\/p>\n
It is my safe place.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I close the door quietly behind me and the sounds beyond become muted.<\/p>\n
My breathing calms and my heart returns to its normal rhythm.<\/p>\n
I am safe here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are no monsters inside my closet because those are all beyond its door.<\/p>\n
No one looks for me when I hide here, no one cares.<\/p>\n
I am safe here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Eventually, I hear my parents leaving for, I assume, the hospital.<\/p>\n
They have forgotten I exist, which is sometimes for the best I have learned.<\/p>\n
I am safe here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the morning I will get up, get dressed, feed myself, and wait for someone to come.<\/p>\n
Eventually, they will send someone for me.<\/p>\n
Until then I will be safe within my closet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
– Diana Kristine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My father\u2019s screams get louder as my mother scrambles to help his pain. I can\u2019t take the sound of my big strong father in agony, and I cover my ears. It doesn\u2019t help. My heart races as panic rises within me. I\u2019m afraid to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":983,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6135],"class_list":["post-136635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","tag-2023-hour-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136635","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\/983"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136653,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136635\/revisions\/136653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}