by Bob McGuire (guest author) on 21 December, 2009
At age ten Bob was taken from his mother as a neglected child and placed in Parkerville Children’s Home. Below is his poem.
to be taken as a neglected child
to be told you were going to be put some where safe
to always remember the evil man with the cane and all ways wild
this is the darkness in my dreams, the horror in my life
this place was not safe but a place of horror for this waif
by Nicole Troccoli-Dennis (guest author) on 14 December, 2009
Nicole Troccoli-Dennis wrote the following poem in 1988, at Winlaton Detention Centre, Victoria.
Born
The petals of my roses are merely wiltering away,
Dreams forever becoming destroyed right here in my face.
Freedom flew away without a thought for me,
My confidence now my enemy.
Love is too much of a burden,
Happiness merely a verb.
Psychotic thoughts come as freely as taking a breath “Aaahhh!!!”
I thought it was all around me,
Surprise, Surprise, I found it.
Way down inside of me,
Within the deepest realms of my soul.
Yep! Rage, Hatred, Mania and compulsive anxiety,
Let me out of this cold wet cage-like existence.
Disease and scars my proof,
Rejected from day one.
Some call this survival,
I say it’s a battle never won.
Agony, fright and all things nice,
That’s what I ended up made of.
