The End of Nights Part 4

I published a poem in my collection Inhale the Night called Dark Knowledge. It’s about a lost woman named Leanne who struggles after a debilitating accident. This is a continuation of her story in a weekly serial, The End of Nights. Find the last episode here. And the first one here.

The End of Nights

She thought she knew
The gentle man who taught her
How to ride a bicycle without
Training wheels. But he had changed.

The medication and shock
Therapy did not help his
Nightmares or anxiety.

He lost hair and yelled, but
Never hit Leanne. She was still his
Little girl. Memories of war
Could never change that.

But they did. He hit her
With his self-destruction
And she couldn’t stop
His drinking or her guilt.
Explosions only eased with
Alcohol and unemployment
For another month.

There was no therapy
But alcohol and shock.
It helped him forget more than
It cured anything.

Her mother left in cigarettes and tears
And it was hard, but no less
Difficult than his slow suicide.

Leanne held on, learning
How to be a woman from
The Internet and MTV.

Her father rarely left the house. But she
Found couches willing to indulge
Her transience for warmth. Gene was
One of many on the davenport.

“You see,” she told McCormack,
“I grew up small.”

© Ben Ditmars 2015

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Find the next episode here.