he asked me across the table
with his vast blue eyes
when was the loneliest time of my life
responding without hesitation
it was the last four years of my marriage
to the father of my sons
an eight year incarceration
which would have ended sooner
had any burlington cop with a badge
been willing to listen
wrought with
blood
bruises
choke holds
cigarette smoke and
death threats
for wanting
more than this
and in the end what saved me
was the bottomless ferociousness
a mother possesses
when protecting her children
the pure meanness
a southern woman can muster
in the moment i escaped him
i was all waynesburg kentucky
i was my mother’s daughter
i was an indian woman
protecting what is mine
who survived him
out of steel
and spite
aayoung 