Does One Heal From Domestic Violence?

does one heal from domestic violence /

is it a trauma / much like losing the mother?

did your mother succumb to the abuse/ a blunt object / specifically : a thick glass bottle /

to the head / an early Tuesday morning / after an argument / when she finally had enough / broke

it off / said the relationship no longer served her / an affirmation she had practiced –

or was that you / also at the death / of an exhausting love /

each heavy clash / your lover blows / against your skull /

you scream /

smell your mother / being buried

Simone Savannah is the author of Like Kansas (Big Lucks). She is a 2017 finalist for the Rita Dove Award in Poetry. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming GlitterMob, The Fem, Powder Keg, The Continental Review, and The Pierian. She holds a Phd in Creative Writing from the University of Kansas. She is from Columbus, Ohio.