Josie (Bustos) Mixon is an award-winning domestic violence and sexual abuse awareness advocate. She has authored three collections of poetry – Reflections of My Battered Life and Of Flesh and Bone I Am Woman, Surviving Abuse and Off the Beaten Path. Mixon commemorates April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
I PREY
The noise sleeps within
my contaminated self
Piercing through deep within my core
are memories with jagged edges
Vibrations of pain driven from the past
Delivered into this day
Filled with pain, rage and sorrow
Cries wail in the wind
Lending voice
To the unheard
Whose teeth still clinch the pillow
(the keeper of the secrets)
Words left unsaid
Questions left unanswered
Why you do this to me
Doesn’t matter
You, did this to me!
Leaving my shame filled
Carcass behind to rot with time
Bewildered by infectious thoughts
Surrendering myself to death
Only to be rejected
By my own disgust
Shame is the blood of the abused
Benevolence the blood of the survivor
-Josie (Bustos) Mixon
Mixon is also the organizer of the reading series at Barnes & Noble / Ingram Festival every first and third Wednesday of the month.
Free; 7-9pm May 2, Barnes & Noble / Ingram Festival, 76065 NW Loop 410 #185, (210) 522-1340
To see a calendar of National Poetry Month events in San Antonio, go to npmsa2012.com.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2012.