of things, we can’t get anywhere,” triggered
the old terror of nearing cliffs: the racing heart,
blood from clenched teeth, fighting to not shatter.
It Never Happened
One reads 1984 in the middle of the night,
“Two plus two made five,” and, “If the party
could thrust its hand into the past and say
of this or that event, it never happened--
that, surely, was more terrifying than
torture and death.”
Abracadabra
It’s becoming clear why what’s called the
last taboo is so, silence a powerful confirmation,
showing affection the popular explanation.
Overt/Covert
Written law (then and now) makes no connection
between innuendo, cuddling, dirty stories,
stares, the variations of child abuse.
Netheworld
The mind blocks what’s too much but ghosts
who will not still, surface in dreams—Hansel
and Gretel crumbs from an underground forest.
Author Bio:
Carol Smallwood co-edited Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching (McFarland, 2012) on the list of Best Books for Writers by Poets & Writers Magazine; Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing (Key Publishing House, 2012); Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity, and Other Realms received a Pushcart nomination. Carol has founded, supports humane societies.