Love is Patient, Love is Kind.

Yet You turn from my smallest transgressions, a nuclear waiting for any trigger

I Love You is your favored weapon, cutting me down little by little

20 little strips

It does not Envy, it does not Boast,

You envy my every minute and action, each breath breathed is to be yours

You boast how well i am trained, your dog, your bitch

40 little strips

It is not Proud. It does not Dishonor others,

Pride for you when i obey, Pride for me not getting hit

at least this time.

The dishonor you claim is mine, if i only would not make you hit me

This dishonor is yours, portraying violence and love as

One and the same, to you they are, interchangeable as synonyms

70, 80, 90 little strips

It is not Self-seeking, It is not Easily Angered, It keeps no record of Wrongs.

Unlike you

100 little strips, each with the same phone number

Hello. You have reached the National Domestic Violence hotline.

So many people need to get out need to escape

Your I Love Yous mean nothing, Your I’m Sorry, Never Agains

Mean even less.

Bracing, Breaking, Bristling,Brooding, Bruising

Trapped in an endless cycle of violence

My friends my family beg me to leave you, can i gather the courage?

i can’t trust, can’t heal for years after you. Never believe I Love You

i meet new potential partners and can’t

Be touched be loved be respected

Until one helps me open up again

His I Love You is reverence, afraid I will break or run

I finally see true love as it should be.

100 little strips, one of them was me