Not her
credit card snatched,
nor driver’s license,
nor picture ID.
Not her universal number
intercepted on the Internet.

Not the checkbook swiped
while her head was turned,
nor bank account number
pilfered from a pile of trash.

Instead,
radiance snatched from her brow,
her voice knocked down an octave,
shoulders drooped from weight
of falling self-esteem.
Pride ripped from her psyche,
guilt smeared on her mirror,
ugliness glaring from the future
like a finger-wagging stepmother.

She sees Used scrawled across her forehead,
dreams the only wedding dresses
available are ones already worn.
She winces remembering his gaze,
shivers at the thought of solitude,
freezes at the prospect of another intimacy.

No person
near to abort
the theft, he forced her
into an alley, stripped
away her innocence, tore off
her self respect, ripped off
her smile, her confidence,
stole her special gift. Filled her
future with depression and fear.

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Wesley (Wes) D. Sims

Wesley Sims has published two chapbooks of poetry, When Night Comes, Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky, 2013, and Taste of Change, Iris Press, Oak Ridge, TN, 2019.  His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, G.W. Review, The South Carolina Review, Liquid Imagination, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Breath & Shadow, Plum Tree Tavern, American Diversity Report, Artemis Journal, Poem,  and others.

Latest posts by Wesley (Wes) D. Sims (see all)

• Cedar Christmas Tree by Wesley Sims - December 16, 2021
• Stage of Gloom by Wesley Sims - February 17, 2021
• Conversation with Cousin by Wesley Sims - October 15, 2020