Silenced

What is never spoken of and pushed down
becomes mold crawling over hearts.
Strangling our voices, it scuttles though
corridors, tunneling, warping each day.
My body…this swollen thing carried by
legs too thin and crippled to uphold it.
Pushed down, tightly clamped in now
full of pain, gasping for each breath.
Smothered, silenced.

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Joan McNerney's poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Camel Saloon, Blueline, Poppy Road Review, Spectrum, three Bright Hills Press Anthologies and several Kind of A Hurricane Publications. She has been nominated three times for Best of the Net.