By Jackie Sue Griffin, MBA, MS
Wildflowers along the roadside and
into the valley speak.
They smell fresh like freedom and
open-air sprinkled amidst Alabama skies.
I want to be baptized and cleaned
forgiven and forgotten
I want to be tossed away
washed in the Locust Fork River
left
floating downstream
upstream
hurling screams
Did you bathe in my innocence?
Feel justified with your conquest?
Your sickening stares as I tried desperately to sleep
still, keep me dead awake.
Are you a bigger man now
or a belly grubbing earthworm?
Ancient elders and ghosts walk with me.
Slithering sassafras and all your ridiculous riddles.
Are you all liquored up for battle?
Spewing hate kissed slurs between banter with your split selves
Prepare for incoming missiles and land mines. Your victim graveyard.
Take cover. Duck.
Your words cut deep into the bone.
#TakeAStand
#DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth
About Jackie Sue Griffin, MBA, MS:
Jackie Griffin is Business Owner and Executive Director of Jackie Sue Griffin & Associates, LLC. She holds 27 years of experience in community development, strategic planning, grant and business development, advocacy, sustainability, and coalition leadership. She has procured more than $71 million for nonprofits and the health and human service industry in Florida, New Orleans, Mississippi, and Virginia. She has served as adjunct faculty for Springfield College teaching graduate and undergraduate students for 16 years.