@CervixSampler left justified:
POEM 144 A TALE AS OLD AS TIME
It’s been more than a two decades now
since he started his toxic torture.
Slowly at first,
almost imperceptible
to the unsuspecting or inexperienced eye.
She started thinking she was imagining things,
that it was her that was the problem.
After all he was such a good guy
and she was, well,
difficult.
She tried to be a good wife,
and worked hard to make it work.
But after the marriage failed
things ramped up
to unprecedented levels.
The never-ending
threats of court.
The mental
poisoning
of their daughters.
He succeeded with one,
and alienated her from her maternal family.
And then he set his sights on her sister,
with his blistering hatred
of who brought her into this world
She gave up her career to be there for you all,
She worked, she studied, she got her degrees,
her post-grad diplomas
and set up her own business.
But it was never enough.
He says she’s lazy,
and sits on her fat arse all day.
And because of that
he won’t pay a penny for their daughters.
He calls her psycho and schizo.
Claims she’s mentally ill,
and abnormal,
and tells their daughters
this in the relentless drip of poison.
It’s not even subtle.
His never-ending stream
of lackeys and handmaidens
ensure his
narcissistic supply
is secure.
As he passes his parenting duties
onto the next in line,
who is blinded
by his
dubious charm.
Why does he hate her so?
The woman who gave her all for him.
The woman who was abused,
and gaslit,
who he tried to make feel small.
She took out a restraining order,
and he painted her as crazy.
Said it was
she
who abused him.
He never took no for an answer.
Pushing ahead regardless,
whilst guilting her into bending to his will.
He had needs, and she wasn’t meeting them,
he’d tell anyone who would listen.
He turned her family against her,
and ridiculed her in front of friends.
He called her a whore,
called her a malingerer,
with Munchausen’s to boot.
When he left,
claiming she’d given him
no choice,
he threatened to kill himself.
Or move to the other side of the world.
Simultaneously
threatening
to take the children,
because she was
psychotic.
Then came the interference
with her work.
Refusing to have contact
with the children,
so she had to stay home.
To ramp it up there were court applications.
She’s been to court
25 times now,
and each time he’s painted her as crazy
and an abusive mother.
He accused her of having Munchausen’s by proxy.
He had her investigated,
cross-examined,
her soul laid bare.
It still wasn’t enough.
Now he exists in his boiling vat of toxic lies,
like the devil on his throne,
precariously sat,
fearing anything that could topple him
from the god-like picture he’s painted of himself.
He is drowning in his own hatred.
His misery is palpable.
The ugly void where a heart should be is reflected
in his demeanour, his actions
and his view of women.
But his most putrid bile
is reserved for the woman
who once loved him who committed no crime
except to be a woman who
dared to say no.
CervixSampler · 20th September 2023
took out these lines in order to get it to fit into five line stanzas
The outdated term didn’t matter
because it was just another way to hurt