Intervention Poem by Melissa Joy Chesky

Two aunts and a sister
gather 'round me.
They know that I'm stuck, again,
on you.
A drug.
An addiction.
They say that you will only cause
more pain for me.
That you don't care
about me.
And,
that's like my heart
climbing
out of my throat,
suffocating
and squeezing
through a narrow rusted
drain hole.
Tears well in my eyes;
The ghosts of past memories
and heart shatters.
And the ghosts trace the
contours
of my tensed face.
And,
it hurts that they
think
I should give up the
only guy I am able
to trust.
The only guy that
treats me
like I'm not a shadow.
The only guy that
notices
that I'm a woman,
and not just a silly girl.
The only guy-the only person-
that
hugs me
like he cares in the slightest.