Poetry Series: No. 3 – “Armor of a Sullen Girl”

Armor of a Sullen Girl

© 2011 Leslie I. Benson
From “Emerging: A Collection of Poems”
Available for purchase on Blurb.com.

With devilish Shirley Temple curls
loyal old friend
you pierced me
with melancholy single mother
you pierced me
with tattooed married swinger
you pierced me
the daughter
the son you hid
the girl who denied you were her father
with all three
you pierced me
and I bled when I begged you
when I on my knees
wet from wounds
stinging scars thin as strands of hair
red scratches wrinkled dark shadows
under closed eyes begged
all you could do was pierce me
awake mistaking
your lust your fury
indifference for love
and nothing no one
never again
can betray me as you have —
as I have let you cut me