Despair

Violence fills my mind
I see myself striking out
my fists pounding concrete
until shards of bone show
through pulped flesh.

I walk city streets
each store window invites a stone.
"He broke a window and
slit his wrists on the glass."
The image tangles my brain
like razor wire.

I have not courage to make an end
imagination too vivid,
desire too weak.
Yet there is no other way
from these trenches.
An escape from all problems
is here
like a rock in my hands.

M. Anne Vespry
16 June 1989