IT TAKES SOME OF 'EVERYTHING' TO MAKE US WHO WE ARE...GOOD AND BAD. I'VE READ SO MUCH OF YOUR WORK, REGIS AND...YOU'RE A GOOD PERSON. I SAY THAT TO SAY...TOTAL HEALING OF CHILDHOOD SCARS BEGINS WHEN WE CAN WRITE ABOUT IT AND LET IT GO. THEN, SOMEHOW, THE LOVE OF GOD COVERS IT ALL. SO THANKFUL FOR YOU SHARING A PART OF YOUR LIFE THAT WENT INTO MAKING YOU THE...GOOD PERSON...THAT YOU ARE. THANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS

I had a brother, he just never done anything like this to me, he's gone now, I miss him so.

Brothers, brothers
They know not what they do

To the point and evocative. I felt the blows and the fear. Very good work!

Very emotional and direct. Your summary is so very true!
And for those of us who have lived lives filled with physical pain, we thank God for the mental anesthetic! Thanks for sharing this!

Love~~and~~Peace
Denise

very powerful

Hi Regis,
First of all, congratulations on your poetry wins.
I envy you somewhat, your great works,(envy is not God-like is it?, sorry), but I surely don't envy you the pain you must have had in your life. It is so sad. I hope healing has, as is taking place for you. I am sure that it is, because just putting all those emotions into words must have lifted a burden from you.
Strange, how people have entirely diferent memories of their childhood. Mine was very poor, but there was much love to compensate for the hard times.
I hope God brings you the strength to forget all those bad memories and fills your life with enough happiness to compensate for them.
Take care,
Blessings,
Judith

The last line is powerful.

Hi Regis,
Congrats to you! I too, was swept away in the statement that
the pain became sweet before unconsciousness. It is true. Life
has innumerable and compassionate inborn mechanisms for survival.
Well done! Vicky

Regis, as all the reviews show, you evoked strong emotions with this poem. Excellent work.

Gina

Regis,

This broke my heart reading it. It's short, but says so so much

Gripping and compelling, Regis, a rivetting write! The following verse just burned its way into my imagination:
"I screamed
in pain so deep
it became sweet..."
Very, very well written!

By the way, CONGRATULATIONS on winning the latest poetry competition!
Excellent work!

Congrats, Regis, on winning AD's poetry contest. It's well deserved. Gripping piece that captures attention and tells a story.

Wow... Very compelling... It does run deep...

Rodd

Your words express your experience chillingly and movingly.
I related deeply to this....thanks for sharing it.
Andrea

a very moving poem! we can only suppress our pain for so long and then we must confront an defeat it ...

Felt it to the depths, I have similar memories, this is outstanding Regis. Sending you a hug of understanding empathy.

This is hearfelt write my friend.....I am moved by this write of yours....you have a very compassionate heart.....love n luck....BHUWAN

This is chilling for me. I can't imagine this sort of fear. My heart aches when I think this happens in our worse and, yet worse does occur. We live in Hell I think. Our paradise is still somewhere within us and waiting to be found.
May my shine warm this child and you.
Wonderful write of emotional degrees that bare witness to society today.

Love,
Susan

(((regis)))

(((HUGS))) i'm sorry you had to experience this at the hands of your brother. my brother (two years older) thought i was his punching bag, so i understand the battering pain. :(

hardhitting, devastating write--(((HUGS)))

and love,

karla. :(

(((Regis)))

Heartwrenching and hardhitting write! This poem made me CRY! >tears <

Yes, child abuse CAN come from our own family members BESIDES parents; I know because it happened to ME. I am STILL dealing with the pain inflicted on me by my two older sisters and my grandmother, but I WILL make it through with the LORD's HELP and learn to look AHEAD and NOT look back and reflect on past hurts!

Thank you for sharing; sometimes emotional or mental abuse can be as DAMAGING as the physical, at times, even MORE so!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :( >tears, tears, tears <

This overwhelmed me, my friend.
Child abuse can come from siblings
as well as parents...aunts, uncles,
even grandparents. This brought me
to tears. EXCELLENT imagery. I could
feel the pain.

Your friend in Va. *Linda*

Great write Regis but painfully sad

William

This gave me chills, and brutal memories, outstanding, just outstanding,

Reindeer

As a fellow Survivor, I feel your pain. Superb write, Regis.

Regis, I'm very proud of you for this poem. As I always say the best poems are bled not written.Since you just bought my chapbook Daughter of a Rogue, I know you know I understand this poem. Good write, or should I say good heal! Since that's what you're doing there.

Steff

As the reviews show, many are affected if not in person, by the experiences of others. The strength to share these memories and to have survived them is encouraging to those afraid to let it out. Isn't that what we do? Superb work!

Gary

numbed me...wow...what you can do with a few words...outstanding...

Sometimes the truth hurts- Congrats on the honest and Bold write!

A sad write expressing something that so many children face. I am glad you were able to gather the strength from your memories of the situation and place them into this piece, hopefully to help others. You must be very strong to do so. I admire that.
Thanks,
Love ~ N~ Peace,
Jill :)

Blimey Regis. Nice siblings you had - not !!

OMG, this is so bloody awful, like a dragon from deepest hell, one reads of such, but rarely gets bowled over like this has, so blimming sad!!!

A sad and painful memory and all to familiar to many children. Excellent emotional write.

Oh gee, Regis, this hurt me too and I felt so much sympathy for the battered child you once were..and the memories it still gives. ;) Silver

Regis,
This is painful to read as it is so raw and honest and written straight from the gut. Thank you for sharing this moving piece and expressing your feelings in this way.
Love
~Chrissie

I am always moved by those who can reach into the deepest corners of their being and pull out such raw emotion from memory. When it is told as eloquently as this... it is even more powerful. Exploring and exploding from within is what poetry is all about! Huzzah, my friend!!!

(((((Regis)))))

♫ Jackie

I loved the poem, but why is it I find humor in it? I was thinking back to a time when I was hit over the head and kicked. It was the other guys who were seeing Birdies when I awoke.

From the depth of the heart and it shows and reflects on the words and the rhythm. Most enriching.

My dear Regis... have you any idea, because you write so boldly and so beautifully, how painful this is to have read.. not just because you phrase it so well... not even because the telling is so honest and so real, but because you've allowed it to flow directly from your gut... This slammed against my insides with such force... Only a committed truth-teller, with a gentle heart could touch another deeply in so few words. My god, Regis... this is why we write! What godawful beauty you've brought here. katy xox.

Memory surfaces in other ways, much later sometimes, it will manifest itself in unexpected ways -- we may not even know it. Excellent write, Regis. You left me breathless.

Carmen

Funny how the mind blots out that which is painful or could hurt more now than it did then, isnt it? I was forceably molested at age 4, the pain, must have been great, but I have absolutely NO memory of it, just what I was told by my parents...But we all survive, it seems, and maybe we also strive to help others in the end all of life...you as a teacher, me as a recluse...excellent piece, hauntingly familiar for some reason...find peace in Peace River, Canada, Ed & Rufuz

Often, too often, I read sililiar poems and wonder how someone can do that to a child. Both my parents, were kind. My father, a miracle worker who fed five children. He nurtured and taught us. I still have memories of him taking me fishing and teaching me about auto repairs as well as drilling me and my brother in the alphabet at a very early age so we would get a good start in school. Well, I'm getting long winded, but this peom inspired emotions in me. Deep, powerful writing.
ShyPoet1

"I scarcely heard
his fading footsteps
as in the waning afternoon
a robin sang"

This is very powerful!

Thanks for sharing - SueB

A flashback of the past, great write.

Nancy

you fleshed out perfectly how acutely aware you are of some other focus (the sound of a robin) when utter chaos is going on around you. this was about as honest as it gets.

POWERFUL verses very moving and in depth! Regis excellent.

Debs

Oh, wow, Regis...you sure brought me back to some
incidents in my own childhood.
Great poem!

Regis, Touching write. The pic gives
a sense of fear. I understand about
abuse yet mine was sexual in nature.
I am so sorry for your beatings.
I am glad you survived,Regis.
I am glad you are here!

Yes, this is powerful. You get used to verbal abuse as well, and eventually, believe it, too. Thanks for sharing such an emotional piece.

Powerful write, Regis. The mind is our primary survival mechanism, the facility that has brought us here. This poem relates a great example of its diversity of function.
Best regards,
Leland

Wonderful! Wonderful! I've read about how our body numbs out pain in certain situations, like with victims of multiple stab wounds-- they normally only feel the first stab. Wish my body went numb when I had my little one, natural----whew. But great poem. Love the way you ended it with the robin singing.

oh my this is so touching Regis...imagine being beaten until you find a kind of comfort in it, I understand this and it's so sad, the pic looks anorexic...Superb psychological write

This is an interesting piece Reg. Really made me think about my encounters. You're right, after so much fear and adrenalin sets in, you almost get numb. I think living does us the same way. After life beats us up so bad we fail to respond in the same manner. I use to kiss a lot of family and friend butt in loves name. Now I hardly do anything. My wife and I have been abused in loves name so much, we're practically hermits and loving it. More peace of mind than we've ever seen. I'm hooked on just minding my dam business now. So is my wife. cheers. G

Extremely interesting piece, Regis. Terror and pain followed by the lull of the robin's song. Enjoyed very much.

Well-written, but no sweetness in the read, Regis -- just feel your pain!

Helga

Powerful thoughts. Many of us go through this sort of thing. Well-put. -- Jeff

I love the ending on this..a calm peaceful moment.Yes the mind has such capacity ,and yet funny that it also has the capacity to create pain from nothing.

Our merciful Lord, who puts us into shock to protect us from the painful realities until we better can deal with them. My foster daughter was shot by an unknown assailant back in 1986: she never even knew it until awakening in ICU. Yet, mericulously, she had managed to key her CB mike to get help, hardly even remembering how she had done it since she could not move or use her right arm. Exceptionally good write, Regis. ~~Bonnie Q

Exceptional write Regis. I know too well the feelings in this. I had an older Brother that used to delight in mine and my sister's daily pain.
Children are cruel to one another..but after a while we learn to blank it out. Lisa

Haunting. Well written!

Oh wow, this one is just loaded with raw passion and pain. I'm hurting for you, Regis! Pulling these out and sharing them are never easy. I might have to try this sometime. It reminded me of my published ebook, "Felling of the Sons" - being able to forget physical pain because of emotional trauma is very strong theme in this book. Thanks for bringing us there!
Monette

Oh Regis...This is so touching...so sad..absolutely wonderful writing...and about your remark on the mind...You are so right..I do believe we can shut out anything we want if we have the power and will to do it...I know I have done it...well done Poet....floria

O' Boy I can relate to this one!!

Been there days ago!!

Very touching piece Regis!!

Love Tinka