The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 1/2/08

[BlueIris]

"How Many Times"

No matter how many times I try I can't stop my father
from walking into my sister's room

and I can't see any better, leaning from here to look
in his eyes. It's dark in the hall

and everyone's sleeping. This is the past
where everything is perfect already and nothing changes,

where the water glass falls to the bathroom floor
and bounces once before breaking.

Nothing. Not the small sound my sister makes, turning
over, not the thump of the dog's tail

when he opens one eye to see him stumbling back to bed
still drunk, a little bewildered.

This is exactly as I knew it would be.
And if I whisper her name, hissing a warning,

I've been doing that for years now, and still the dog
startles and growls until he sees

it's our father, and still the door opens, and she
makes that small oh turning over.

—Marie Howe

[RainDog]

1. devastating

[BlueIris]

2. Yep.

[ThomCat]

3. I wish

that the assholes who do this shit to their kids were as haunted by it as their kids are.

I wish they could feel what it is they do to their kids. x(

:(

This poem does a good job of portraying how "normal" or repetative this becomes. It becomes a horrible routine, a recurring part of their lives. It's the monster that doesn't go away.

[BlueIris]

4. Yep.

[BlueIris]

5. Kick.

[BlueIris]

6. Kick.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. no words

there are no words.

[BlueIris]

10. Nope.

[RetroLounge]

8. Oh, man...

Damn...

RL

[BlueIris]

9. Marie Howe is a superb writer.