COLLEGE FEMINISMS: Three Poems to End Domestic Violence

By Stephanie Carter

 

under his control

 

sweet lullabies,

he watches you dreaming.

only so he can destroy them when you hit reality,

as he nearly crushes your head to the Floor.

please wake up befOre moRning comes,

please sTay in contact with the sun,

it’s the Only thing that knOws how to keep you alive.

the cracked mirror that hangs in your bedroom,

showing the bruises, visible from deep within.

and they’ll control you for the rest of your life,

 

if he lets them.

 

this is alL part of his master plan,

to lOve you,

to hate you,

to coNvince you,

marry you.

he will suck away any oxygen that you breathe.

there’s one way out,

but you must trust what you can’t see or know,

for he controls your thouGhts,

before you think.

~~~~

 

when i know my heart

 

did iT ever occur to you,

tHat maybE this reality,

isn’t the realest form,

of anything?

listen to What I’m speaking,

fOr i am standing in the daRk.

Screaming into empTy rooms,

hoping to light a spark.

for all I know iS fleeting,

and dying out the flame.

my only hope is breathing,

so i hOpe you’ll do the same.

for all i’Ve known is broken,

and i’m rEaching out in shame,

that what i feaR the most about living,

is losing everything.

so what’s the point to breathing,

if i never know my part,

in this life they call living,

when i never feel my heart.

~~~~

 

dark days of bruises

 

She looks at him with that ever-changing smile.

somewhere in between content and confUsed.

it ceases to amaze her, of his kind, then violent ways.

for the beginnings of autumn,

three yeaRs from the start,

wooed, yet displeased her every thought.

as he carefully and surely made his way in,

carved and conceiVed every sin.

making it a point to hide his flaws,

forcing her to desert the ones she loved.

 

as dark days of bruises and tears

began to control her,

It’s been several years.

like a monster he stood,

crying and begging,

when his plan failed her.

but she wanted to belieVe,

that the man who said he loved her,

wouldn’t attempt such a thing.

my god, it’s a miracle.

and by god, shE’s alive.

but it doesn’t take back the memories

she lives with,

that are hidden behind his smile.

~~~~

 

For too long,

the worst is over,

survive.

 

 

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Stephanie Carter is from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. She is a sophomore studying Music Education at Duquesne University. As an artist and musician, she gains inspiration from life experiences, most often finding a way to express impressions and opinions that she could not convey in person.  Steph sincerely thanks everyone who inspires her work. Her work has been published in Thought Collection Publishing. See more of Steph at: stephaniecarter11.wordpress.com.