Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
A figure stood where silence breaks,
Where tympan walls and cost collide.
Sixty thousand etched in tone,
For sound denied, for flesh alone.
No plea, no storm, no velvet cry,
Just static breath and copper sigh.
A voice dissolved in spectral haze,
While need outpaced what coin obeys.
We, the ones with padded ease,
Spend breath like silk, forget disease.
But some must trade their pulse for cure,
And wear their organs insecure.
The ear a vault of sacred tone,
Yet poverty carves through flesh and bone.
No crown, no robe, no sovereign plea,
Just silence learning how to bleed.
A witness watched, the moment froze,
Where empathy in shadow grows.
And I, a ghost within that cost—
Of sound, of health, of all that’s lost.
This poem reflects on the silent suffering of those who cannot afford medical care — specifically the cost of hearing restoration. It contrasts the ease of privilege with the raw vulnerability of poverty, where even the body becomes a transaction. Inspired by real-world inequities, it is a witness poem: one that stands beside the voiceless and asks us to listen beyond sound.
Charlie Kirk:  Called  for “God’s perfect law” of
stoning gay  people 
to death !  Do you know how painful it is to be killed in that manner?
  Constantly and. repeatedly   called women *****,  
dumb ****** , *****  receptacles    etc.  
His main target was susceptible youth, and he spent the majority of. His early career targeting college campuses with Turning Point USA, a national conservative youth group and media platform he launched.  Potential members say they were brainwashed, coerced,        fleeced repeatedly.  and  bullied. Hazing was common and encouraged.
  He openly and  cruelly   mocked trans people, saying someone identifying as  trans is akin to a white person putting on
blackface.
Pushed “great replacement” trash,   doubled and tripled down on the whole Haitians eating pets thing
  called  for  open hate  
and  condoned  violence.  he’s discussing real deaths of school  kids  as acceptable collateral, which is morally grotesque said it was just.......“an unfortunate cost”  ...  

  ALL  with corporate sponsors and social media reach.
No  self-righteous,
self important CARR  and the    FCC chair threatening   him  
or  his ridiculous dog and pony circus of a  lopsided hate  filled   GOP  propaganda  labeled  as  a show .
  No  stations    lost  licenses over that.  

 Charli could (and did) spew YEARS   of
hate filled  
, racist
misogynist. bile .
Uncorroborated. Unchecked.  dogwhistles, anti-LGBTQ screeds, conspiracy theories  . etc ad  infinitum....
all the while defending violent extremist movements. Including, but not limited to, attacking gays at funerals and AIDS victims.
The worst type of mental garbage anyone could possibly imagine cranked all the way past 11.
All of it dressed up as “political commentary.”
As vile as it is, the Constitution protects that speech because it’s viewpoint.
The First Amendment doesn’t let the government say:
“We like this opinion but not that one.”
It only makes very narrow carve-outs (direct incitement to imminent violence,
true threats
, obscenity,
terrorism etc.).
Kirk’s   non stop  SEWAGE 
  apparently   didn’t cross that legal threshold, so it’s   some  how shielded.

Meanwhile, when Kimmel drops one pointed line  like...
“hey, that shooter looks like one of yours”
suddenly the  full  trump  hammer drops.

That’s not about protecting decency.
That’s about selective enforcement.

Here’s the hypocrisy in plain language: Jimmy Kimmel: makes a single satirical jab pointing out an uncomfortable political truth, and suddenly affiliates yank his show

Disney  cowards capitulate.   and suspends him,
FCC chair   threatens  at regulatory action.

That’s not “free speech vs. consequences.”
That’s government- demanded Trump  protection  

vindictive  suppression,
because the punishment only flows one direction:
against criticism of power

. The First Amendment is supposed to protect
both
Kirk’s hate filled inane  religious fueled Christo-fascist  bile
and 
Kimmel’s mild mannered  and accurate  satire.

But what you’re seeing in practice is the government and corporate media conglomerates selectively shielding one side while punishing the other.

That’s why the Supreme Court’s Vullo ruling matters so much: it’s exactly the kind of unequal, government-pressured suppression the Court just said is
unconstitutional.
These are important issues,
but no politicians are allowed to even address any issues
because of the constant nonstop Trump circus.
No one can even focus
or understand because he's continually doing. It
one. Thing that is even more stupid than the last.

The important issue
already occurred

and that was when a vote approved the so-called right of a corporation to donate or support and fund a candidate with unlimited resources.
And the American people just let that slide like nothing was even happening.
What that means is that any grassroots decent human being trying to run against the corporate sponsored, dictator approved puppet has absolutely no chance of winning that office

because, as the presidency of the United States just showed us, money. 
 Can buy  any position.
  Even for a
******. 
 He  *****  E  Jean  Carroll
   and a *******.
Repeated trips to Epstein's island.
Repeated flight logs from the ****** Express.
no notes  needed its all there.
Children of my century
Are forced to turn the tides,
When every single wave,
Comes crashing down
With the single force of a tsunami.
Forced to carry the weight
That our forefathers could not.
We were told to burn a corpse
And bury any feeling.
Haven't you heard?
Any emotion —
And we're hysterical.
We were raised
In the aftermath of a war
That never happened.
We speak out at injustice,
And scream at your false righteousness,
Only to be shut down
With your incessive ignorance.
Our sole right,
Was to be silenced.
So, if there's a reason,
I'm not suicidal,
Just a person with too many words,
And all the symptoms,
Of everything I am not.
It's because I am wanted.
I, am wanted alive,
We, are wanted alive.
We are here to fix what was broken,
And destroy what shouldn't have been made.
We are here to live and thrive.
Not, to be choked,
By those,
Who think massacre
Is the way to save lives.
- C.c
Her scream is swallowed, thick and deep,
But no one stirs, no one weeps.
A fist like stone cracks open her face,
Blood spills out, a slow disgrace.

He pulls her by the hair, she crawls,
Her body a wreck, her dignity falls.
The blood pools at her feet, a crimson flood,
Her skin shredded, soaked in mud.

The walls whisper of bone that snaps,
Of ribs that break, of flesh that cracks.
Her lips are split, her teeth are gone,
Her spirit erodes, but she still hangs on.

He calls it love — a brutal game,
Her eyes are hollow, her skin a flame.
She bleeds inside, where no one sees,
A lifeless corpse still gasping, "Please."

The neighbors hear, they turn their backs,
Her cries are buried under cracks.
Her blood runs thick across the floor,
A river of red, forevermore.

Her skin is torn, her soul is rent,
A broken body, a life spent.
And when they find her, cold and pale,
They’ll say, "She should’ve screamed, but she was frail."
maxx Feb 22
I came on silver wings,
drifting past dying stars,
hoping to find a world soft enough
to call my own.

I saw blue first,
a planet breathing,
wrapped in mist and promise.
I thought, maybe here—
maybe here I could stay.

But then—
the silence of women swallowed whole,
voices drowned in laws not their own.
Skin held as a currency,
love twisted into a crime.
The ones in power, chosen by fear,
speak with empty mouths
and call it truth.

I watched men sharpen their edges
on the backs of women,
their laughter carving scars,
their hands taking without asking.

The food—
not food at all, but ghosts of what once was,
pumped with things that do not belong.
The trees fall,
not from time,
but from greed’s impatient hands.

And I wonder,
do they not see the world turning brittle?
Do they not hear the earth gasping?

I do not understand your wars,
your hunger for more,
the way you cage each other
and call it freedom.

I only feel it—
the ache of something wrong,
an unraveling, a sickness,
a grief I do not have a name for.

I did not come to be a witness
to a planet choosing its own end.
I came looking for home,
but this—
this is not a place to stay.

So I turn away,
silver wings catching starlight,
searching for a world
that remembers how to be kind.
i wrote this in the pov of an alien searching for solitude, but it comes to earth and sees everything that our population somehow doesnt see. that we are dying. and that maybe, we should.
Sara Barrett Feb 2
When the marriage ends,  
and the child is still too small to understand  
what's been torn,  
why is it that the man tells his friends—  
"She was crazy."  
"She never got off her ***."  
"She was too emotional."  
"She never took care of the kids."  

And no one asks him,  
"Why did you stay?"  
Why did you have children with her?  
Why did you marry her in the first place?  
Why does she have full custody now?"  

No one dares to ask,  
because they already know.  

Men stay—  
for the comfort of control,  
for the invisible chains that bind women  
with babies,  
with promises that were never kept.  

They know,  
the way a child knows their mother’s touch  
but never her heart.  

The man knows his power in her silence,  
in her labor,  
in her sacrifices—  
the ones no one sees but her.  

And yet, when she walks away, they ask her,  
"Why did you stay so long?"  

Because they know the cost of leaving  
was more than she could afford.  

But still she walked.  

Still she left.  

Why did she stay?  

For the love she thought might change him.  
For the chance that maybe—just maybe—  
he’d become the man she believed in.  
For the hope that her children would have a father who cared.  

But he didn’t.  

He stayed because he knew—  
the house wouldn’t run without her.  
The kids wouldn’t be fed,  
the bills wouldn’t be paid,  
and the image of a family was more important than the truth.  

Men stay because it’s easier to claim a woman  
than to be the man they promised to be.  

And when she leaves, they don’t ask themselves,  
"Why couldn’t I be better?"  

They just ask,  
"Why did she stay so long?"
"The Unasked Questions" is a powerful exploration of the silent struggles women endure in challenging relationships, revealing the complex emotional landscape of marriage, separation, and societal judgment. Through raw, unflinching language, the poem exposes the systemic dynamics that trap women in cycles of sacrifice and silence, where men's narratives often overshadow women's lived experiences. Released during **National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month (TDVAM)** in February, it resonates with the theme of breaking free from control and reclaiming one's voice. The poem challenges reflexive blame placed on women by turning the lens on unasked questions—Why did he stay? Why did he have children? It dismantles convenient narratives while honoring the resilience of those who walk away despite overwhelming costs.
Sara Barrett Jan 29
They tell her, it’s not their place.  
Say, he’s always been good to me.  
Say, she should have left sooner.

They say a lot of things,  
but never the ones that matter.  

Her black eye is a private matter.  
Her broken ribs, just a lover’s spat.  
Her ******? A tragedy—  
but never a crime until her name  
is trending in the headlines.  

When she packed her bags,  
they called her selfish for breaking the family.  
When she stayed,  
they called her weak for not leaving.  

But where was she supposed to go?  
Shelters with no room?  
A courtroom where his lies outweigh her bruises?  
A graveyard where they’d whisper,  
She should have known better?  

They say, not all men.  
Say, he was under stress.  
Say, he’s a good dad,
as if a man who leaves his children hungry,  
their mother in pieces,  
is anything but a walking threat.  

And you—  
the man who doesn’t hit,  
but laughs at the ones who do.  
The one who turns away when your friend grabs her wrist too hard.  
The one who stays silent when your coworker brags,  
"I keep my woman in line."  

You are part of this.  

You are why she doesn’t call for help.  
Why she learns to stitch her own wounds in silence.  
Why she dies and they ask what she did to deserve it.  

The system says, report him.  
Then calls her bitter.  
Then hands him weekends with the children—  
the same children he left cowering behind locked doors.  

And when she’s gone, they’ll ask:  
Why didn’t she say something?

But all she ever did was scream  
into a void of indifferent men,  
silent women,  
and a world that let her be hunted.  

So hear this now:  

If you know, speak.  
If you see, stop him.  
If you call yourself an ally, act.  

Because the only men who fear consequences  
are the ones who know they deserve them.
"Bruised by Silence, Built on Indifference" is a poignant and unflinching exploration of domestic violence and societal complicity. Through powerful imagery and stark language, the poem confronts the indifference that often surrounds victims of abuse, highlighting the painful realities they face when seeking help or escaping their situations.
The poem critiques the harmful narratives that blame victims for their circumstances while calling out those who remain silent or dismissive in the face of violence. It challenges readers to recognize their roles—whether as bystanders or enablers and urges them to take action against abuse rather than perpetuating a culture of silence.
With its raw emotional depth and compelling call to allyship, this piece serves as both a reflection on systemic failures and a rallying cry for change. It speaks directly to the heart of the struggle many women endure, making their pain visible and demanding that we all become part of the solution.
Ashwin Kumar Mar 2024
You are a brilliant poet and writer
And a terrific activist and orator
On the head, do you hit the nail
Every time without fail!

You speak what people do not want to hear
Which makes me grin from ear to ear
Never do you sugarcoat
Nor do you showboat
Supreme, is your clarity of thought
A lot of battles, must you have undoubtedly fought
And when it cometh to your imagination
To the winds, do you throw caution
The way you repeatedly attack our Brahminical patriarchy
Leaves us all under a spell
Because your writing is so fiery
That even the Sun can't hold a candle to it!!

Your English is flawless
So brilliantly do you assess
The problems in our society
Incomparable, is your brutal honesty
Not to mention, your Tamil is a work of art
Very well, have you played your part
In fighting caste and gender inequality
To all of us, do you represent Hope
Especially in these times of adversity
Never do you sit down and mope
When the going gets tough
Rather, do you tell yourself
"Enough is enough!"
And bounce back with a bang
Loud enough to silence your detractors
Unquestionable, is your character!!

To the literary world, are you an invaluable asset
Because, there ain't nothing you can't achieve
Above all, you make us believe
That we can fight the system
And most importantly, WIN!!
Poem dedicated to Meena Kandasamy - an author, poet and activist whom I admire greatly.
I know we meet
people for a reason
and every time I didn't
think it was the case,
hindsight proved me wrong
ten times out of ten.

But us? I can't seem to accept
you were a stepping stone,
a lesson, a memory etched
in my spirit only meant to
redirect me to another place.

I just don't want what comes next
without you here to share it with me.

Tell me why I can't seem to
come to terms with us being
not only impermanent
but seemingly forgettable.

I cannot bring myself to let go
Next page