Trauma Poems
A letter to my mom
by Rowan Gilbert
Dear mother,
i love you dearly,
but my lord are you a bluffer,
and i know you love the real me barely,
you love the image of me you've created,
i was child who needed protection,
not a trophy of someone you think you've aided,
i exist as someone other than something of your creation,
and some days i wish you'd hold me tight,
and others i'd like to run away as soon as i can,
......
Growing Up
by kyra turner
When I was young
I didn’t know the difference
Between beer and root beer
Vodka and water,
But now I know
I know when i see
my dad drinking his
“Root Beer” or when
I see my step-mom
Mixing Dr.pepper with water
......
mother forbade feeding the poor thing
by Bogdan Dragos
there was a dog outside and it kept
barking for some reason
Ah yes, it was chained
and the chain was terribly short
and the poor animal was hungry
Mother wouldn’t bother feeding it
No, mother wanted it
to die
because it had been father’s dog,
......
Suspended In Thin Air
by Frangipani Rhett
If you ain't got family
Damn (then?) you don't have anything
There's nobody home
But they're there just the same
Ghosts with eyes you can't see
Watching from the corners like creeps
It's so scary and it's shameful I wish I had a family who wanted me
Home, I just want to be home
......
Kintsugi
by Lynda Grine
I took your broken vase
Put the pieces together
Took gold to hold’m together
Still not enough
Because you yearned for the flowers
It once held
Your eyes
by May Golda
Your eyes where like warmth.
Your eyes where like home.
Your eyes became pain.
Your eyes became torment.
Your eyes are like scares.
Yours eyes still remain.
Your I eyes, I do wish I could prick from my brain!
......
Zen and the Art of Orange Freezes
by Kristina S
I’m oscillating
Between the sterile, serene rattle of hospital HVAC
And the sensory symphony of the garden
Both singing the same song
Of self-love and healing
A stark juxtaposition
My favorite kind
Watching the fiery orange feather celosia
Frothing in the breeze
......
Eyes in the shadows
by Daniel Ryan Cotler
In the quiet of my home,
where I thought I’d found some peace,
He hid his eyes in shadows,
his cruelty never ceased.
With cameras set in secret,
to watch me through my strife,
He recorded every struggle,
every moment of my life.
His goal was not just to hurt,
......
That familiar feeling by Cavel Treasurer
by Cavel Treasurer
That feeling of numbness never seems to depart from me
Every time I think I’ve gotten better
Every time I think I’ve overcome
Then it appears, piercing through my bones
Reminding me that it’ll always be there
I can never depart from it
And through I try time and time again to feel again
Feel something
Feel something old
I can never fully feel anything anymore
......
Husk
by David Hoover
I’ve been dead for years.
Ever since that night.
When the boy I was meant to be was slaughtered.
The boy I was before my trauma.
Before my pain.
Now I am a puppet.
Masquerading as a man.
Controlled by the strings of fear.
Forever tainted by my pain.
Forced to look through the lens of my past.
......
