relationship poems

Violent

Violent, rigid parenting
Forming people who see
The world as a harsh,
Adversarial nightmare where
Countless imaginary enemies
Must be forced into submission.
An unquenchable yearning for safety;
Single-minded conquest,
Remorseless cruelty.
It’s always the same story,
The damaged imposing their
Will on the vulnerable,
But it doesn’t have to
Be this way.

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Fragile Ties

Once she was gone,
Everyone’s personality
Came into high relief,
Often with unpleasant
Ramifications.

No one could return
To how things used to be,
Struggling to function
In new roles they were
Ill-suited for.

Fraying at the edges
Leading to complete
Disintegration,
Personal needs severing
Fragile ties.

The Holiday Season

It’s more than difficult
To reconcile how he treated
Us most of the year,
Keeping us in fear of when
His latest rage would cruelly
Descend upon us, and who
Would bear the brunt,
Keeping a watchful eye,
Avoiding anything that might
Set him off, and the peculiar
Joy he took in festooning the
House with lights during
The holiday season.

Likely

When it became apparent
That things would not
Be as I wished, I still
Held out hope,
Surely there is another way,
One that won’t hurt
So much, that won’t
Make me hate myself.

Many years later,
Everything remains
The same, externally,
Though inside I still
Harbor some slight
Optimism that things
Will change though
They likely won’t.

Recurrence

They come together
Not because of chance
But certainly due to habit,
A familiarity born from
Repetition, recurrence,
Distrust for deviation,
Simple, predictable
Results emanating from
Hurt and fear.

The Result

She’s convinced herself
That the years of hearing
She didn’t matter had no
Effect on her when absolutely
Every single thing she does,
And has done for the past
Many years, to destroy herself
Is the result of a
Callous insult,
Contemptuous look,
Dismissive shrug.