Abuse Of A Child Poem by RoseAnn V. Shawiak

Tickets of defiance stamped on denial's forehead, acquaint-
ing an outer world with the hatred of authority, silenced
at every whisper, every concealed laugh.

Being made to die whenever opening their mouth to say a
word, always a saddened voice, choked back by force over
the years, unrecognized.

Stabilizing inherent ideas, crushed by the insistence of
an abusive parent, mind collapsed because of pressures
that nightly episodes create through lust.

Wanting to whistle out loud, down tunnels instead, holding
inner sounds tightly in check so as to escape the violence
of authority.

Porched under dilapidated structures, youthfully thought
of as safe places, unsure of now, what faces them, a dist-
urbance of renderings exiled from innocence and child-like
behaviors.