THERE OUT THERE.

A WOMAN OVER THE EDGE IN LIFE

There out there
they crowd the streets
and alleys and malls
and buses and trains,

she wanted no part of it
any more wanted to be away
from the rush and push
and shove from behind
and in front and and above,

she lies on her bed
hears the hum of traffic
the song of birds
the echo of chatter
on things that do not matter,

she muses on her plight
of that dark day
this dull night,

her father captured
in the claws of cancer
her mother unstable
unable to cope
hanged herself
behind a door
without rope,

her partner
misunderstood her
thought her weak
bullied her night and day
until just now
with her father's gun
she blew him away.

Reviews

[Tony Jordan]

This phrase struck me ' "the dark day, the dull night'. That the day is darker than the blackness of night because all the horror of her unfolding life is illuminated all the more in the day - presumably when the home is awake and buzzing with anxiety - at least the night brings a little - a very little, respite as sleep consumes some in the house.

But the - BLAM!
The final stanza hits the reader like a bullet.

Such a sad piece Tel.

[mercy party]

women statistically don't hang themselves, perhaps she was framed.
the poem was eerily quick and to the point but had a lot of thick substance. i had a feeling from the first part it would end like that. very cool!

[Terry Collett]

Men are more likely to commit suicide that women, but a woman deranged may make the exception. I rememeber reading anarticle of a girl finding her mother hanged behind the door by her dressinggown cord and how it affected her all her life that image. Thank you for reading and commenting.

[mercy party]

it made me think of the DC madam story where asome women hard working women mysteriously hanged themselves. eerie topic, again great poem.