Photo Credit: Michael Salazar Photography

Thank goodness he didn’t do more
Are the words That I hear as I look down at my bruises
Thank goodness you managed to escape out of a moving vehicle, were pummeled with fists and scratched and scrabbled with nails instead
But yes thank goodness he did not sexually violate you
Don’t get me wrong, it could have been worse

I count my bruises like I count my blessings
but since when are these blue spots that I don a blessing in the absence of a curse
I am grateful that he beat me to a bloody pulp but did not get to more
This is what it means to be a woman and a girl, I’ve lived this so of that I’m quite sure
We are being burned with acid for rejecting marriage
We are being pinned down and taken advantage of for consuming…