This poem and corresponding art is a conversational piece about abuse from a child's perspective.
Trigger Warning: Abuse
Like you - Miriam T
You built four walls
Kept me in
Beat me mercilessly
You give me air
Then ask for it back
You suffocate me
You reek of smells
Smoke and spirits
Break glass
Then demand I fix it
Taught me to walk
Only to lead me into fire
Fix me a meal
Laced with resentment
I’m bleeding you dry
You shout
I am not to question your ways
You call me ungrateful
A shame to your name
But somehow
Nothing you’ve done
Seems to warrant the same
Nowhere to go
I’m chained to you
You’ve taught me guilt
You’ve taught me shame
You’ve taught me
Never to go against
The grain
Keep my head down
Children can’t abandon parents after all
My scars are explained away
They always mean well
They always mean well
They say
Now as I slowly lose my mind
You curse me further
Taunts and jibes
Did you ever love me
What happened to you
That you think it’s okay
To inflict your own
This way
Do all fathers beat and break
Their little girls?
Do all fathers chase them
Into corners from where
there’s no escape?
Do all fathers hate healing
Confronting the truth?
I’m scared
I don’t want a family
What if I turn out
to be
like
you?
