What Happened to Ama in that House? A Poem on the Shadow Pandemic

From where I sat

It looked like a normal house

In a normal neighborhood

But what happened inside was anything but normal

It was abnormal

It’s the tragedy of its invisible nature

So pervasive

That apathy

Has replaced the rightful position

Of concern and righteous action

How my sisters, did we get here?

That the world doesn’t care

And absentmindedly stares

At women’s suffering

Of the abused

Of the used

Of the broken housewife

Battered/

Black/

& Blue/

Blood dripping

Miscarriages

Blood dripping

What a loss

Blood dripping

“Maybe if I did things right…”

Blood dripping

She just can’t leave…..

But months later

After I drove away

With few words left to say

A powerful thing happened

Testify.

The dawn and beginnings of a new day

Was awakened

By a strength beyond human will

She left.

She was free

From the chains

Of the pain

Which kept her paralyzed

Defeated

And …

She was free

To receive social supports

To pick up one foot at a time

On her arduous and yet liberating

Road to recovery

We will never forget

The blood of her sisters slain

Thousands of lives lost

Proceeding from the shadow

Of this pandemic

“This war against women!”

But to hold on to hope

With a rope

slightly slipping from our fingers

What happened to Ama in that house

Was a transformation from a captive

To a woman who finally gained her freedom

She survived!