Best Maltreatment Poems

For The Love Of Poetry Contest
Sponsor: John Lawless

The shadows beneath the stairs is what I believed to be my hell. 
There I was, countless nights, too injured to show my
true face. If only I had been loved instead of being damaged.
I sat there. I cried...

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 your output 
                 to the universe 
             comes back to you 
    ...

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(in memoriam, Eugene Lawler, d. January 29, 2012, aged 83 years)

--- Note:  "The singing machine" is a not so tongue-in-cheek reference to Gene and his penchant for singing whenever and wherever he wished, as well as to his karaoke
equipment and his nickname at bars...

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This poem is about how I feel the world has betrayed at most every turn.

I received my awakening,
About the age of three,
Too young for understanding,
Of why it was me.
A house full of roaches,
A room shared by four,
A floor thick with ashes,
A splintered front door.

At the...

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Changing the world just seems so much bigger than me,
it seems larger than just a thought or decision I could make,
but I know deep down there is a strong vision I really see,
taking a stand changing foster home rules for the children’s sake.

Innocent children so...

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Hello? Are you there today?
Have I scared you away?
Spent my whole teenage life, 
Preparing for this day of strife 
To say my goodbye's
To your love-me-not lies
Oh well, oh well
I'm not saying farewell
Where do you dwell?
In Earth's heaven-hell,
Going pellmell in your shell?

Aloha...see you later,alligator 
Aloha...be a...

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(autobiographical)


I was barely eight before mother died
When Gerald was happy and not as reduced
When he was the loved son
The child with a loving home.

From aunt to aunt I learned to live
Out of the anger of dad
Out of the voice that brought fear.
Into the hand of...

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I was in the company of my
 siblings
Enjoying the comforts of my
 sisters,
When they came at me
Armed with axes and machetes
 determined to grind their oxen

They struck blows upon blows, cuts upon
 cuts.
My limbs first, then my trunk came tumbling
 down.
I shouted and cried all...

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Good boy gone bad enters the stage with a spotlight overhead, despite being misunderstood in my ghetto neighborhood

The lonely applause celebrates in my cracked, corrupted, and crazed cranium
I exaggerate too much and so too much, it’s been..something in me is kinda numb
I feel dumb in...

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I will make a collage of my college days
Just like I did with my High School days...at least in my mind every May as long as the memories stay with me...I know they won't stray away
I say OK to your independent, stubborn ways 
I pray...

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(A reply to “The phenomenal woman” by Abul Mayen, “Hope John”)

This breezy morning
I have caught the right worm
Basking on a rock like a lizard
She twirled her waist in her briskly walk
A mile ahead of mature beauty
The in-made beauty perfumed with humanity
I smelled it perfumed---she was...

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Heroes,  
To some people a killer can be called Hero
To other people a defender of their rights is called Hero. 
There are many untold true histories as 
some people wanted to be celebrated. 
Leopard II killed many Congolese in the colony regime innocently ,...

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Unwritten absence, 
Does silence speak? 
Does silence fix problems? 
A person who wants to conceive a good thought 
He " she" can find a quiet place for meditation.
When it comes to ill-treated people ...
speaking out method...helps. 
Why am I speaking this?
Why am I speaking that?...

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Quiet Soul

1963
Her skin is that of alabaster. Wide circles of red rouge pronounced her thin lips and each cheek.
She is soulfully unique.
Her hair of dried stalk was approving to her eyes of vacuous emeralds.
She traveled the two blocks from her home to a destiny where...

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Violence against women
Experienced discrimination
Maltreatment weakened them
Witnessed inequality in rights and freedom
Once surpassed made them superwomen!

Let’s end women’s sacrifice and strife
Let all women from all walks of life 
March forward as the world celebrates women’s month
Let them feel valued, respected and adamant 
To better hone their...

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