If your shirt has no button
and your trousers are roughened,
if your jacket is so crushed
and your carpet needs a brush,
if you can’t find a clotheshorse
and all the time just, curse
There is only one way out:
to marry or divorce.

Larisa Rzhepishevska

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I collect up the pieces of my former life

Photos, articles, trinkets and pictures,

that reverberate with a life once lived,

far away from where  I am now.

I was once a borderline, edging death.

A cathartic catchpole where I caught nothing but pain. 

Grazing on the  remnants of the past, I realise 

that I was set up to fail.

No one there to see the beating heart of kindness.

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Home before 8 he’d say,
dinner on the table,
but the clock struck 
quarter past my patience,
and the milk he’d sought out
had curdled,
sister and I
will have burnt toast tomorrow.
But no loss for he,
his thirst had been quenched,
feasting on white lies 
and mother’s restless sighs.

An appetite fit for a king he’d say,
but so far could he fall 
from those kingdom castle steps.

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It all starts in an oxytocin bath,
drowning in aphrodisiac dreams.
Best friends sweating through
amorous bouts of battering lust.

You begin purposeful procreation
and embrace coparenting with zest.
In a blink, you go from saying “they’re
so cute and tiny” to “they grow up so fast”!

Bliss you’ve had and content you’ve been,
but somehow merriment becomes misery.
You begin to hoard a st...

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The Other Woman

I feel sorry for her

She believes your lies

Wipes tears from your eyes

She thinks you care,

Always be there.

We know that’s fake

Rotten wedding cake,

Broken vows,

Affairs with old cows, 

Twisted memories told,

Left out in the cold. 

Beaten and broken, 

Heart torn open,

All still to come, 

Treated like scum,

The future holds this,

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The pandemic's killing the divorce rate

Those with any sense are not straying

My wayward tendencies are history

These days I spend my time praying

What good is my cute smile anymore?

Why bother all that dressing to impress?

When you're stuck in the house bingeing

How to find someone nice to undress?

When I do venture out a mask is essential

But my George Cloone...

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The roaring blender
The fresh vegetables
A nice dessert
Sweet and sour
All were ready to pour

It was a long conversation
Ticking clock

I looked at the papers
Signed and silent
All done
I am done

Small quiet room
Fridge in the corner
Goodbye to an old dishwasher

At 9 o' clock on Friday night
The snow was rushing down

a kiss goodnight
a whisper as I closed the window,

"...

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Like small children divorces are messy

Legal fees only add to the frustration

But perhaps the hardest thing of all

Is coping with an ex-partner's indignation

It's not easy but we must be fair to Belinda

She gave me the best years of her life

After all she is the mother of my kids

She was, all in all, a half-decent wife

Of course dear, you are my partner now

Bel...

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I loved you 

From the moment I saw you

Black beanie 

Brooding 

Cigarette hanging from the side of your mouth

Dripping in hurt and cynicism

You

My imperfect reflection

We spent days in bed

Hid from the world

Made our own

You were the light in my darkness

The first to really see me

The first to truly love me

What you gave me I'd never had before

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It's been a year since you've been gone and I'm still picking up the pieces,

You were often my strength but more so my weakness,

Everyday you're on my mind I can't escape these thoughts,

It makes my chest burn and my stomach twist into knots,

Sometimes I feel like its too much to handle,

What you did to me was truly a scandle,

All the times that we shared and everything that we w...

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It was surprising that after work, on Thursday,

she wanted to meet and share her bed with a man, again.

Maybe men, even, she thought, suddenly indecisive and guilty,

but for society, men, peers, their judgment, their pursed lips and nods of disapproval.

Now that she was almost home, her fireplace and Scotch seemed dearer, as usual;

the icy blanket of her acceptance of undesired celi...

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They battle.

Kids in the middle.

Swords drawn,

Jousting parents.

Children crying,

Caught in the middle, 

Lovers tiff,

Family rift, 

Place of pain,

Divorce. 

Gone.

Still fighting,

Still battling,

No agreement, 

No rest bite,

Kids a weapon.

Mass destruction.

Can't save them.

Parents scar them.

Divorce ruins them,

Trust betrayed. 

Love lo...

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God's love is unconditional 
but he shut up the seas behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb
and set its doors and bars in place
when he said, " This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt. 

So I won't let you drown me
as your tears fill the dead living room
I proceed to leave. 
When I was younger I would stay
and try my hardest to row, row, 
r...

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In the beginning he would wake at every peculiar sound that came from the babies crib 

In the beginning he would bring me a beverage as I fed his son whilst the moon was dimly lit 

In the beginning he would rush home from work eager to see the family he created 

In the beginning we were the people whom he could be himself and escape with 

In the beginning we were enough 

He wou...

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We're the throw away

wives

The use em and lose em

brides

---

Like old cars

you trade us in

for new models

After  putting 

one hell of alot of miles 

on us

---

One man's trash

is another's treasure

---

So here I sit

on the Goodwill's shelf

like the Velveteen Rabbit

Waiting for

---

a Real Man...

By Lynn Hahn

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If your shirt has no button
and your trousers are roughen, 
if your jacket is so crushed
and your carpet needs a brush, 
if you can’t find a clotheshorse
and all the time curse
There is only one way out: 
to marry or divorce.

Larisa Rzhepishevska (Odessa, Ukraine)

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They married young and grew apart, as people often do.

Future life for both of them will be with someone new.

The problem though, was cash so short

they could not move their home.

Until some savings could be made,

and low cost rents be found.

Circumstance demanded that

the bed must still be shared.

Things were tough, no time for fun,

except for weekend booze.

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Shame

Been working hard loving

working hard chances way too many, many

you’re foolish not to let me go

you helped me walk when i was off

you told me this was the last time

i’m sure its nice to change the bloody razors

maybe turn back the clocks 

those where the days 

I know i fucked it up

I know i was the clown, banana peel

you come around, you hear the sounds

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A Rant 
by a Drunk & Angry Poet! 

Fuck you! You selfish bastard
You wanker, prick & runt
You think that I deserve this
You're an ugly little cunt

Throughout our 14 years
Via your manipulation
You've broken me piece by piece
Now I'm changing that situation

You think that you can fuck her
And keep me as a friend
You think I'll take it lying down
Believe me this is the end

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Them

I don’t wanna be on of those guys 

worried 

out of place 

emotional problem solving, constant

it sounded good on paper

now just more different 

she this 

he that

beautiful children!

he’s being such and such a way

they don’t know where things are

why are they even arguing?

what people are we?

is today the same as yesterday?

yesterday as in when...

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My heart is breaking

Particles of glass are shattering

The happiness that once existed is now but a lost memory

I will truly miss the way we used to be

A family once one whole

Now two halfs, and I am in the middle.

I push myself away,

I can always stay strong for the rest of the day

Behind closed doors I am a wreck

My heart can't help wondering what will break next

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See their faces so jaded

With all the torturous barking they hear

Over and over and over again

Assaulting their innocent ears

Our mouths keep spitting out poison

There’s bile wrapped in every word

After all these years of affection

How did our love become so absurd?

And I hope, just hope

You sleep sound and safe in your single bed on this night

I kn...

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So then, stick by stick
tonight we tear off strip after strip
the newest feathers first
then the older twigs and vines
with each one
my heart drops
until there's nothing left
and nowhere lower
just empty branches
where our sweet home once was

Inch by inch
we pack and divide the moss
all the soft things we've collected
years of careful, loving selection
pecking them away, each and e...

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moving on

you wear your bones

on the outside now.

the smile that once danced

at all our parties,

now a recluse.

folded arms protect the place

where I once died

a past eternity of joys

you spit formalities begrudgingly,

take every chance to turn your face -

still managing to leave

a shadow of

contempt.

i knot my tongue,

stem the flow of words;

worthless now, disarmed

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