Thousand

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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

Adjectives

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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

Stomping on Eggshells

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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

How to Steal a Voice

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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

Going to War

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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