BABUSHKA

The Russians had it right There are women within a woman. I am reduced to the smallest Babushka doll.

Hollow knocked The life has gone out of me.

Empty

Toxic painted pretty smile

Never did hide

The cheap wooden moulds

Those thin scaffolds supporting the shells of my body Finally snapped Toyed with by rough clumsy hands

Taunted by the crazy making clown

Heads twist and bodies unnaturally turn anti-clockwise Fragmented and discarded

Mismatched parts

Fall apart.

This poetry is written by a domestic violence survivor and author in one of the Broken to Brilliant books.

Her words behind her smile tell a picture of domestic violence, framed in poetry. She has used story-telling as a mode of survival and recovery.