Crushed Red Velvet
It’s sort of always there:
bits I can’t break apart,
swallow,
digest
or
leave behind.
Time makes the pieces shrink,
The pieces grow smaller and smaller
each week.
Remnants still remain.
In the beginning,
he was sugary sweet
like the cream cheese
frosting he made
from scratch and mixed
with moist velvet cake,
dressed in red.
Later, his touches were toxic,
like cyanide.
Progressing day by day
until the day his right fist
was raised, stopping inches
from my delicate cheekbone.
Sugar & Spice
Wide-eyed angel eyes
trust us when we
tuck them in,
when we recite fairy tales filled
with gallant princes
adorned in shiny armor
as they rescue Cinderella
and Sleeping Beauty.
Too many times
we feed little girls
sugary sweet lies of
love and happy endings,
telling them to look pretty,
to be perfect and pleasing,
in order to get the glass slipper
in the end.
Sarah Minges
Featured Image by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
