I’m an artist. Being an artist is my salvation. I decided on that path when I was 7 years old. It allowed me to escape when my sisters were screaming, and pleading “Daddy please stop! Please stop.” When it wasn’t me that time. There was only once when he broke into that secret world and raging he threw a scissors at me. It stuck me in my face. My early marriage was supposed to save me. My young husband was my white knight. Instead he married me to save him – I just never knew what I was supposed to save him from. So I buried myself in my own little world of art and poetry and my children. And I didn’t dare ask myself if I was happy.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Dissolution


I hung my head down
til my chin burrowed into my chest.

My feet felt like they
were sinking into the ground.

I had witnessed the dissolution
of my family, my life's work.

I don't recognize
what's in front of me.

I don't recognize
my previous life.


















© Copyright poetry and artwork Maureen Kavaney Tillman 2013