Domestic violence can be physical or psychological, and it can affect anyone of any age, gender, race, or sexual orientation. It may include behaviors meant to scare, physically harm, or control a partner. While every relationship is different, domestic violence generally involves an unequal power dynamic in which one partner tries to assert control over the other in a variety of ways. Insults, threats, emotional abuse, and sexual coercion all constitute domestic violence. Some perpetrators may even use children, pets, or other family members as emotional leverage to get the victim to do what they want. Victims experience diminished self-worth, anxiety, depression, and a general sense of helplessness that can take time and often professional help to overcome.

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Fractured

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I am Fractured...Little by little my soul breaks down...You are thorough in your waysYour words of a thousand cuts...In your eyes, the ugly beasts revel.Little by little you take me apart...Never to be whole again, neverSome say hands have not be laid...But cruelty has many subtle forms.Little by little I lose myself...Bruises detract from the truthAn evil deception of the true violence...This pain inflicted on so manyLittle by little only my sorrow remains...You learned your ways from othersAnd it will be passed down to your kin...The cycle of hurt to be continued.Little by little my tears no longer mean...A cruel smile you sometimes giveA casual caress of your fingers...The precursor to more vengeanceLittle by little my death befriended...This is all I know, I will return to itMy embrace of what you did and still do...The perverted acceptance of abuse.Little by little I become a void...I see this in the faces of strangers tooThe mirrors of my own slow breakdown...This awfulness, not to be spoken by any.I am fractured.Written by: pierre dutertre

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