Pushing Open

The capacity 

for astonishing cruelty 

can come as a surprise. 

Not when it makes news 

from a distance or closer at hand -

neighbourhood, friend of a friend,

chinese whispered in the extended family 

But on a day blindsided by rage 

your heart’s mind goes places you 

didn’t know existed 

you retreat. Frightened. 

A window opens 

into a cruelty you saw

the deep and terrible dismissal 

it came from, from that place of 

such enduring wounds

that it became frightening.

Handed down in your bones 

hiding, biding its time 

bringing you by this window 

you push open.