Poem: Scars Burnt Forever

A full cigarette burns back to the butt.
It melts a charred groove as it struggles for life,
scarring the top of the toilet cistern forever.
Jimmy left it there.

.

Her face burns like red skin rash.
It leaves a dirty mark as she hides it with concealer,
scarring the top of her cheekbone forever.
Jimmy left it there.

.

A boys mind burns deep with emotional taunt.
It leaves a mark which nobody can see,
scarring the top of his mind forever.
Jimmy left it there.

.

A stepsister’s naked skin burns shamefully cold.
Her ripped dress mimics her torn soul,
scarring her innocence forever.
Jimmy left it there.

.

A neon light burns bright above his favorite bar.
It leaves a shadow across his slumped drunken body,
scarring his future, they escape him forever.
Jimmy is left there.

.

About this poem...

This poem is my second attempt at a non rhyming poem. My first attempt was this one called “I miss you so”. I am not sure if I like creating these poems as I feel like its harder trying to make the poem flow? Sounds stupid but it seems to be easier for me to be confined by trying to make a poem rhyme. I guess an analogy could be that although hip hop dancing looks difficult with all the tricks, I think free form dancing would be much harder as you would have to be well aware of each move and where you end up at the completion of your dance set. Make sense? Probably not, I digress.

This poem obviously is about domestic violence. It covers emotional domestic violence, physical domestic violence and sexual domestic violence. I am not sure if there are any other forms of domestic violence? (You could let me know if you wish). I’ve given the villain a name and gender but people who dish out domestic violence can be any gender, age or race.

It wasn’t hard to gather inspiration to write this poem about domestic violence. Domestic violence is everywhere and everyone (I’d bet my last dollar on it) has been affected by domestic violence in some way, shape or form.

My victim, in this poem, gets the courage to leave her perpetrator. However much is the case where victims stay, out of fear or for other reasons (like for the children sake). This may result in death or children of the victim also suffering terribly. This is also where the deadly cycle of domestic violence never ends as the children (not all the time) grow into domestic violence offenders. It’s all they know.

Acknowledgements... 

Edvard Munch,
"The Scream" (1893),
Image Courtesy of
WebMuseum, Paris