Words I wanted to speak to my Stepfather, but could not. (Rewritten).

You emptied me out;
Spat in my face, hauled me over purgatorial fire,
Whipped me in the High Street because of my words,
My hatred of lies, my commitment to love.
I professed equal rights for men women and children,
For Gays and Straights, Prods Papists and Muslims,
Buddhists and Jews,
The Homeless camped out under the arches.

You emptied me out;
Kicked me around like a bag of old bones,
Of blood soaked rags, of skin and sinews.
You threw me into the path of wolfhounds, a phalanx of horses,
The heavy batons of visored policemen,
Their rubber bullets, their boots and sabres,
Their racist, fascist text book jargon,
Their anvil moulded faces.

You emptied me out,
But could not erase me,
Could not excise my deepest secrets,
Could not delete the tape of my dreams.
You left me lame and almost blinded, my intellect shuttered,
My razored lips a rancid purple, my mouth a hollow cave,
But when my heart was raked from the ashes,
It beat as though it could never be stilled.

I am the ghost of all you despise.
I am the ghost of the love you denied.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
September 30th. - October 2nd. - 12th. 2017.