Words

Taunting

Haunting

Tart

Acidic

Burning through flesh

Like a knife

Fresh out of

The fire

Searing the mind

Slowly corroding

Each lobe

Of fledgling brains

With foul speech

Evil intent

Spewing forth

The unforgettable

With consummate

Inflection

Sewing

Indelible roots

Of indescribable

Horror

From

Nursery rhyme

To nightmare

In the

Flash of

A beady eye

Invective flood

Accompanying

Clenched fists

Preamble to

A billion

Hidden scars

Assault

Prevalent

Glaring

Yet strangely

Oblique

Behavioural issues

Blamed not on

Perpetrator

But victim

Frail bodies

As well as

Innocent minds

Destroyed

By witnessing

The unthinkable

Hearing

The unmentionable

Vantage point

Front row

Neath kitchen table

Or cavernous wardrobe

The malicious echo

Rings loud and

Clear

Producing

Reels of footage

Reconstructed and

Replayed

On permanent repeat

Palms for headphones

Closed eyelids

As screens

Memories for scripts

We women

Born girls

Carrying the

Unnecessary weight

Of pain and resilience

Rich fodder

For

Counsellors

Psychologists

And predators

Simply because of

Unaddressed despair

Spiralling into

A swift-flowing river of

Uncontrollable anger

And

Unbridled tongues

Directly or

Deliberately levelled

Or not

Still making

Their mark

Still breaking

Our hearts.

😔

■ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

25 November

📖 A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit.

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