This poem doesn’t scream it trembles. Rach writes with the kind of honesty that feels like a bruise pressed gently. The monsters here aren’t fantasy they’re inherited, absorbed, disguised as love, discipline, silence. What’s most human is the contradiction: parents who were “good,” yet carried wounds that taught their child to vanish politely. The poem doesn’t blame it mourns. It traces how trauma becomes ritual, how jokes replace tears, how the monsters learn to grin inside us. And still, there’s tenderness. A quiet knowing that naming the monsters is the first act of healing. Not to exile them, but to understand the child they chose to play with.
Ooh, stunning piece, Rach!! It doesn’t come with much more angst than this! I love angst… well, I love angsty writing, and you nailed it… a real “fuck you all!”
Woman, you said they didn't roar. You can't imagine what it might have been like had they unclenched their jaws and dumped their rage on you. I'm not telling you how to feel but all that jaw clenching might have been them afraid of what their negative emotions, fully expressed, might have done to you. But I'm truly sorry they were remote, emotionally unavailable, and absent in guidance.
This poem doesn’t scream it trembles. Rach writes with the kind of honesty that feels like a bruise pressed gently. The monsters here aren’t fantasy they’re inherited, absorbed, disguised as love, discipline, silence. What’s most human is the contradiction: parents who were “good,” yet carried wounds that taught their child to vanish politely. The poem doesn’t blame it mourns. It traces how trauma becomes ritual, how jokes replace tears, how the monsters learn to grin inside us. And still, there’s tenderness. A quiet knowing that naming the monsters is the first act of healing. Not to exile them, but to understand the child they chose to play with.
We're likely from different generations, but this connected big time. Spot on
A
MAZE
ING.
I so love your pure expression.
Wow. This resonated with me a lot. Kids are always so much perceptive than given credit for.
Ooh, stunning piece, Rach!! It doesn’t come with much more angst than this! I love angst… well, I love angsty writing, and you nailed it… a real “fuck you all!”
This hits Rach
Woman, you said they didn't roar. You can't imagine what it might have been like had they unclenched their jaws and dumped their rage on you. I'm not telling you how to feel but all that jaw clenching might have been them afraid of what their negative emotions, fully expressed, might have done to you. But I'm truly sorry they were remote, emotionally unavailable, and absent in guidance.
Out of pocket comment, man.
What fucking ever.
Sending you a huge hug 🫶🫶🫶