WE ARE DAMAGED

The Betty Poems

by two traumas:
birth and who
gave birth
to us.
Can't do much
about either.
If we're lucky
our caregivers
were hip
to that and allowed
our wounds
to scar
and fade
quickly. Most
of us
were not
lucky
and found ourselves
slugging it out
with ourselves
and life's consequences.
We played dirty
because life
played dirty.
Some
took a beating
quietly,
while others
bit back.
Some
sought mercy
others sought symbols;
some suicided
and some killed
others instead;
some killed a different kind of pain
in error
or desperation.

Pass the salt
please.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2014