his belt hung on the wall,  

in the backroom where he victimized me; 

as mom tried to stop it 

the door slammed shut, click, 

the feeling of leather against my skin, 

cold sweats running through me 

you could hear my cries, 

begging him to stop, 

like dogs screaming. 

he says he loves me, 

but does he? 

his behavior was ugly, 

picking me up by my arms, 

pinning me against the wall, 

in my face, 

shouting ugly things. 

hiding in the bedroom corner while weeping in pain? 

begging a higher power to make it all go away, 

Why me? “I asked” 

trying to imagine it all away, 

the fighting, the phone calls,  

911 

the knock at the door, 

the young man in uniform, slender and tall. 

the badge on his shirt, 

two children clinging to their mom's leg, 

not saying a word, 

while imagining being saved, 

does one deserve to shake? 

shake like a creaking broken fence in the wind!