
You gave me scars deep below my skin
So I keyed this poem into your car
A parting gift
A reminder of the damage you've caused
Easier to repair than what you did to me
-gws

You gave me scars deep below my skin
So I keyed this poem into your car
A parting gift
A reminder of the damage you've caused
Easier to repair than what you did to me
-gws

My heart screamed,
“What about my hopes and dreams?
The magical things
That make me, me?”
-gws

The truth has lit a rage fire in my belly
Where there was guilt and pity
There is now a simple aching coal
Burning so hot it challenges the sun
-gws

I sat in the flames as it all burned down
Trying to douse it with tears
But now I see things for what they are
And I step back to watch it burn
-gws

I've told you a thousand times I hate your demands of my body
You've shown me a thousand and one times you don't give a shit
I've swallowed a thousand silent screams of frustration
I've cried a thousand silent tears of rage
I've counted a thousand agonizing seconds waiting
For the understanding to etch across your face
That OUR relationship is more than just YOUR needs
But it never manifests
A thousand and one times this exchange plays out
Like ghosts caught in the temporal fly paper of their last moments
I can't even pretend I'm okay anymore
I will not arrange my face into a mask of acceptance
I will, instead, blank my face and retreat into my mind
Counting a thousand heartbeats enduring the unwanted attention
Disguised as affection that is really an affliction upon my person
One would think that a girl who looks like me should be grateful
That a boy who looks like you is so obsessed with a body like mine
I will admit that some part of me is flattered
That my thousand fat cells bear your label: SEXY
But when the package is more valued than the contents
It feels like a thousand Christmases where the kids
Like the boxes better than the presents I agonized over choosing
I have identified a thousand random shapes in the ceiling paint
I have taken a thousand calming breaths
While screaming a thousand times in my mind
STOP TOUCHING ME
It is a thousand moments of madness
When I want a thousand and one moments
Seeking my enthusiastic consent
Instead I endure a thousand days
Until the thousand is down to one
-gws

On the night I was arrested
Our argument ended when
You called me a
"Fat. Lazy. Black. Bitch."
Our children heard you
I heard you
I couldn't believe you said it
But I heard you
The words hung in the air like poison
Choking the tears in my eyes
Choking the rage in my throat
Time stopped
Suspended by shock
Each painfully silent moment
Accompanied by the roaring blood
Rushing like a raging river in my ears
As I stood in the kitchen
Eyes wide and mouth open
Speechless
Everything suddenly clear
As I stared at you in utter disbelief
It was over
It had been over
And with that final insult
Those four ugly adjectives
It became unmistakably understood
I was done
-gws

Every step I take I'm stomping on eggshells They cover the landscape of this relationship Like unexploded landmines after a war The book explained it It explained you It explained us Or More specifically Why there is no air between us Why there is no peace between us Why there is little hope for us The book However Didn't tell me what I could do about it What I should do about it The only peace it gave was that The immobility was a real side effect The difficulty breathing Being Living Leaving That feeling stuck was normal It isn't a failing But a reflection of the deeply difficult Existence of living with Loving Trying to love Being loved by Being hated by Being loved by Being resented by Being loved by Being shamed by Being loved by Being eviscerated by Being loved by Being devastated by A person with a personality disorder gws

Step on it until it collapses in on itself Choke away all of its oxygen Ignore it Dismiss it Gaslight it React hostilely to its sound Force its words to drown beneath sobs Scream over it Belittle it Steal its truth away Repeat until it fails to rise anymore Until it is replaced by clenched teeth and fists Held back by tight and bitten lips Repeat until it forgets its own sound -gws

If you were to leave right now I'd be just fine I already know how to survive without you You have provided me with years of practice -gws

Everyday I watch you head to war War with the demons in your mind War with your family War with strangers War with me Your war created my PTSD Always triggered You constantly strategize and scrimmage Uncaring about collateral damage Gleefully seeking maximum carnage You roll in the mud of your resentments Wearing them like war paint Screaming with berserker rage Craving vengeful satisfaction Through blood lust and pain Unaware your counting coo trophies Leave you the monster of the story The victim turned villain Doomed in bitterness until the end -gws