The Sound of Ink

We were ribbon hung like party favors, organza dolls with hair curled into the fantasy innocence didn’t have a price.   The feral me already knew the dark side of attention, the coffin sunlight becomes when a monster curtains tulips with his shadow.   Born without claws I learned to sharpen my tears into crybaby scalpels people would avoid because once the truth is opened eyes could no longer claim blindness.   A dandelion in a murmuration of starlings who devoured blue sky in the endless search to be called pretty, I grew in the spines of books, rainbows of escape, and the nurture of oak tree nanny’s that taught me how to stand through the harshest crushing wind.   ©Susie Clevenger 2022 Shay's Word Garden Word List #9        

Oh, a storm is threat'ning my very life today... If I don't get some shelter Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away - Rolling Stones I crawl into ink where pain has no blood stains and agony is anesthetized with poetry. Torment penned on confession’s diary shelters me from the needle points of terrifying silence. Folded into butterflies I send my voice on wings praying the world outside my prison will rescue me. ©Susie Clevenger 2020 For all those who must shelter in place with abusers...May you be heard...May you be rescued. Inspired by Carrie Thackeray Van Horn's Shelter prompt at Word Crafters