After a husband kills his wife
and then shoots himself,
the newspapers report his death
as a tragic ending to a fine life.
When a woman is strangled
to death in her own basement
in front of her three-year-old,
her murder is called mysterious.
Blackened eyes never meet yours
when she says he tried to kill me;
there is no way to comfort children
whose mothers are forever absent.
Nothing mysterious about it,
nothing at all fine about a life wasted.
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Susie Clevenger has asked the Real Toads to raise our voices in condemnation of violence against women. In memory of Annamarie Cochrane Rintala and countless other women who lived with violence and whose lives were ultimately wasted. We remember and honor you.
Oh, this made me grind my teeth in fury. Are we so accustomed to violence that we choose to soften the news of it rather than scream as we should?
ReplyDeleteThe stanza about a man strangling his wife in front of a child sickens me. The violence in society is truly inexcusable. We do need to scream LOUDLY.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very opening of this piece it states how skewed society is when the one who takes a woman's life gets more attention than the victim. I am with Kerry this makes me so angry. Thanks for sharing such truth in such a powerful way.
ReplyDeleteTotally true. This so-called 'bladerunner' murder is becoming a prime three ring circus example of this sort of thing--I really don't want to hear 'his side of the story.' yeah, tragic waste, indeed.
ReplyDeleteso true. and it's such a huge, global issue that it's really difficult to write about without being trite. i write about related issues often, and feel like i just have to take a small piece or an incident and write about that, trying to make it universal. it's just impossible (and has been done over and over) to write about "violence against women."
ReplyDeletethe first two stanzas here are about only two (of course there are plenty more) women who have been killed locally in recent years, and the way the press described the incidents when they happened. in the third stanza, i tried to encapsulate my experience working in a battered women's shelter/program, down to four lines, the very essence. of course there is much, much more to say.
OMG. Unbelievable. Or, sadly, only TOO believable. Great write, Marian.
ReplyDeleteUgh.
ReplyDeleteNot your poem; the content, the inspiration.
Just ugh. That's why I hope to organize a Woman Scream reading here in Vegas later this month. Waiting to hear back from venue spots.
Fantastic, Yve! Please record it so we can all see.
DeleteI will ! You can add it to the ALL CAPS YouTube page since I'll be reading from my book.
DeleteSo sadly true. Certainly something the scream about.
ReplyDeleteEven reporting of the news is biased and prejudiced, I agree Marian ~ I hear you loud and clear ~
ReplyDeleteWell done--no mystery here. This is an important scream. The fact that we all know stories or have personal experience is screaming very loud.
ReplyDeleteNothing at all is right. Domestic issue my arse.
ReplyDeleteright on!
ReplyDeleteWell voiced~
ReplyDeleteI love the ending, it gave me goosebumps!
thank you, Ella! i'm not sure about the last two lines, so appreciate your comment.
DeleteNothing mysterious... he shouldn't have a voice - but in our crazy society, he does.
ReplyDeleteindeed.
Delete