Like Driftwood Left

Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel with Tobias

Like Driftwood Left

Dear Once-hurting Angel,

You must have wondered 

as your spirit ascended above

your body in death

Why, I'm being left,

left slumped over in a car

towed to an impound lot;

or lying in a wood

no one hoped you'd find;

Or bundled in a trunk; or flushed

out to sea with no trace;

Even my bones

are not together

you say;

I'm being left

strangled and mutilated;

How strange to die

Like things, left discarded

like driftwood; 

like driftwood no angels

seemed to bless;

Holy Girls, Youngest of Women, 

who never dreamed they'd 

 lose their life with someone they knew, and 

be discarded like last-weeks garbage,

Or simply spend time in a park

with the wrong boy;

And how did you die, Angel? 

A chorus of words calls back:

Mutilated, stabbed, or shot--

You spoke with a clear voice;

If angels weren't there

in your hidden seclusion; if you felt them not:

I'm praying them where you laid;

Praying them

Where you rose &

Where you lived and played;

You were made for joy

and prayers,

not control and violation

a male thought was

your due or because he 

was in the mood;

You've left us numb,

Left us hallow:

murder after murder

so quickly forgotten

because inside--we're horrified;

But something has happened

to us now - all the remaining

women

We feel, too--

Left like Driftwood

on the beaches of the world.

by Connie Nelson Ahlberg

2/25/2013

It's been a struggle to 

even keep up with the 

violence against women

in the Twin Cities and

beyond:

Anna Hurd 

Brittney Clardy

Kira Trevino

Zahra Baker's 

Skull was found in NC,

a young girl;

they're all young girls.

I had to write

to them and

about them:

Darlings all.