Erica Perez

Sean Michael, August 2016

She used to tell me she loved me.

Erica Perez

She said she was my girlfriend.
I asked her to leave her husband,
the father of her children,
but she said, “I can’t, who else will give
me money to take care of my kids?”

“Hey, I love you and your kids but I can’t be their daddy.
I can’t even be your boyfriend.
I can’t take it anymore when you tell me he hits you.
I don’t know what to do, but you can leave him.”

She tells me I’m the only one she wants
and begs me to stay.
She’s crying as I stand and make for the door.
I’m scared for her and her kids.

A week later, she writes me a long letter.
She describes how her husband threw her on the bed and
choked her until she saw stars.

I remember being a kid and walking
into the bedroom to see my uncle with his
hands around my aunt’s throat.
“Leave him,” I say. “He’s going to kill you.”

“I can’t. He’s the only one who gives me
money for my kids and, if I leave him,
he’ll get custody of my boys.
I can’t live without them.”

I used to love listening to her talk about her kids.
Racing to get them ready in the morning and
dropping them off at different schools.
The sports they played and
the funny things they’d say.

“Leave him. Somehow.”
“I can’t. He’ll take my boys.”

That same year, my friend lost her life and
she’s never coming back.
Her husband killed her and put her petite, lifeless body
in the car trunk and left her there,
locked away and hidden from her five sons,
who will grow up without the mother
who loved them more than life itself
of this I am sure.

---

Domestic violence is too common and too often the abused do not seek safety or respite from their abusers for whatever reason. It is especially sad when children are involved because they are more helpless than anyone else. Domestic Violence can be a difficult subject to approach and difficult to escape. I hope that if you read this poem and you or someone you know is being abused, you don’t turn a blind eye and think that somehow “Things will be okay.” Here are a few links to websites that can assist someone in need:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline: http://www.thehotline.org/
Feminist Majority Foundation: http://www.feminist.org/911/crisis.html
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: http://www.ncadv.org/

 

Posted for  dVerse Poets, Open Link Night #179, September 8, 2016