John Harms
ENG 294
Fall 1998

The Abused

All of my life,
I've been kicked around,
my insides full of stinky, squished up shreds,
or sometimes a noisy film of trapped air,
along with whatever the daily special might be.
My ears get covered with labels
Parts of my skin get taped together
My eyes get closed shut
Just so I won't see what's about to happen.
I can still hear what is going on,
but only strange voices I can't understand
are heard through my covered ears.

And then it comes
I get picked up
helpless . . .
there's nothing I can do.
An eternity passes before me
My life in danger –
Suddenly, I get dropped.
It feels like a hundred feet straight down.
My stomach gets upset
as the contents inside shift rapidly.
I soon realize that I am among others like me,
I can hear their stomachs rumble as well,
as they are dropped in around me.
It's getting crowded now
Wherever I am
This place I do not know.

A silence falls upon this place
Then a loud rumble is heard.
Frightened, I hold whatever is left of my breath.
The rumbling gets closer
and louder
I fear what is to come.

It's right over me now
I hear a deep voice above me
Then a click
a clank
a clatter
THUNK! UGH! OUCH!
Somebody of enormous size and weight
falls on to my weak body.
I get crushed.
My stomach feels like it will explode!

What seems like years later
the crushing body is lifted off me.
Relief at last.
Just when I think the kicking,
dropping, and bouncing are over,
I get yet another painful memory.
One side of the tape holding my ears shut is sliced open.
As I enjoy the relief,
the tape is quickly peeled from my skin
taking most of my precious, irreplaceable flesh with it.
It was the most painful event I've felt in quite a while.

Just when I think the worst has come,
the covers on my ears get torn off as well,
leaving behind a sticky feeling
with which I have to deal.
I'm turned upside down,
what's inside of me is quickly spilled out.
Then I'm dropped one last time,
In to a bin filled with others like me
empty, used, and abused.

The last thing I hear of my lifetime
"Let's get these crushed down and go home"
From a voice, as plain as the day,
but I didn't understand a word of it.
What's going to happen to me?
What is crushed?
That sounds so terrible!
But what if it isn't?

How will I know?
What do I do?

Fear is instilled among the others,
The last thing I feel –
the crushing of steel jaws,
pushing us all together,
smashing us flat
The last thing I hear –
The sinister laugh of somebody else's joy.
And now I am
a box no more.