Composed 7/25/13
Description: My response to We Drink Because We’re Poets’ Thursday Poetry Prompt: Weakness. What is weakness? There are many different kinds of weakness I could write about, but this one spoke to me this evening….
when ice water shoots through my heart
and bugs bite beneath my skin
you tie me up in puppet strings
and stand me on my feet
step
by
step
you lead me through
but the wind whips briskly still
and your strings
twist and tie and trip
and slip off of my wrists and feet and then
step
by
step
I fall
my arms
my legs
they’re frozen now
my heart
my head
their pain throbs new
when I’m forced to walk on my own feet
my strength starts and stops
with you
Scraps of Paper 
As someone who has seen addiction destroy most of my family, this poem reminds me how even though there is tremendous pain in fighting through the addiction, there is relief on the other side.
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Thank you for reading and commenting! I’m glad your family found relief.
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Sounds a lot like what I went through after my ex left me — he was abusive and made me completely dependent on him. I’m so glad I had the strength to pull out of that. I like how the poem is visually built, too. Kinda gives it an “up-and-down” feel, much like dependence itself can be — up and down, up and down. Its a horrible feeling. But spot on writing!
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Thank you very much! It’s good to know the spacing did what I intended — set a mood.
And, yes, though dependence can be weakness, strength can definitely result from it — when you pull away. I’m so glad you were able to get out of that abusive situation.
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Oh, so am I. I was in so deep it took *him* leaving *me* to see it. But I thank my lucky stars that it wasn’t worse. I was so miserable that I just thought, “Please, just hit me, it would hurt less.” How awful was that? And how far deep was I in to see that that type of thinking was so wrong? But I never saw until one day, I just realized… it was abusive.
Worst two years of my life, but as I like to say, a sword becomes stronger when its tempered in fire. I am a much different, much better person for the experience. And of course, I have my darling daughter out of that. I wish I could do more for women in need, because when you’re in that situation you feel so alone, so isolated (that’s what abusers do — they isolate). One day I’d like to volunteer at women’s shelter.
Apologies, I could write a whole long article on this :D Its something that really gets me going. Anyways, great poem, to stir such emotion like that.
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