Beatitudes of Sobrevivientes de Violencia Doméstica In ESOL Class

Blessed is the fluorescence for those
long taught not
to speak, now learning
that ___a does not have to
refrain.                                    Blessed

is the pressed laminate, the long
tables lined with those
who once quailed before Cain, now learning
that i does not have to
lie silent.                                 Blessed

is the linoleum, the cork
dust beneath those
who used to kneel to keening, now
learning the silence of e
at the end of                           refuge and escape.

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Barbara Boches’s poetry has been published in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Poet Lore, Solstice, upstreet, and other journals. Her work has also appeared in the Griffin Museum of Photography at Lafayette City Center. She lives in Brookline, MA and volunteers in a shelter for beautiful ladies.