When Home Is Not Safe

Judith Skillman is the recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets and Artist Trust, and has published twenty collections of poetry. She is a faculty member at the Hugo House in Seattle, Washington. Linera Lucas won the Crucible Fiction Prize and her poetry and short stories have been widely published. She has taught at the University of Washington Women’s Center and Hugo House in Seattle.

“Anthologies so often hold one subject up, turn it this way and that, show us crevices and winks of insight, make connections we haven’t before perceived. Judith Skillman and Linera Lucas’s recent anthology about domestic abuse does just that…. This is a book of collected truths, a conversation about the facets of abuse…. Skillman and Lucas clarify the nuance of abuse from the beginning, through the title, and their introduction defines and describes how it can be loud or quiet.… I’m amazed at the hard and clear power of the language of many of these writers and stories. These writers have not only endured abuse but offer psychological clarity for those who need it.”—Literary Mama

• Table of ContentsPreface by Judith Skillman and Linera LucasIntroduction by Judith Skillman and Linera LucasI—HomeHeidi SeabornWeatherDrafting a Flight PlanJennifer JenkinsHit MeSusan AprilThe BalletHowie GoodAnger Is an ArrowStick Figure FamilyThe Secret GoldfishEmma BrousseauWhat’s True of the Garden PeaWren TuathaFissureChelsea ClammerBalcony, 3 a.m.Nina FosatiHer Father’s DaughterRK Taylorholy / daysLynn MagillYou Smiled MichaelCynthia SteeleWords “Too Dark” for the Father’s Day EditionKurt OlssonPacksDrownedThe Best of a Bad YearJ. Flynn DoncasterEver CloserII—TraumaLindsay ErdmanAbroadLeeAnn OlivierKintsugiAimee ParkisonGirl in Rape KitVictoria Elizabeth RuwiA Slice of SummerMary Ellen TalleyWine SongHow to Survive AbuseA Steady WhipOgu Chukwuebuka KizitoVoices from the StreetsCarolyne WrightMandamientos: Lover to BelovedI ForgivePaul RousseauKitchen TableJonakiIt Wasn’t the First Time He Hit MeDarlene GoetzmanReading the LinesAnne SpollenFrom Where I Live NowIzzy WilsonWhy Are They Fighting?Christina HoagWhen His Words Became a DrugAmelia GoldmanThe FixerSally QuonBeginningsGayelene CarbisHis face Right in My FaceThe Weight of Words in Our Hands Like WaterThis is What HappenedKelsey BrownA Game of Cat and MousePolly BuckinghamExcerpt—The Queen in the MirrorIII—PTSDTina BarryPineRoxanne JamesCounting RaindropsLilloPearls Before SwineSally ShowalterStone LiesH.M. ClarkFire LineDanielle HarkI Keep Secrets Stashed in a Lock BoxAbandoned DollCold SheetsSecrets Stashed in Tiny Orange Pill BottlesLexy CourneyaMemoir ExcerptsMemoir Excerpts IIJoyce HaydenThe Out of Body GirlMarjorie MaddoxEiffel TowerOn a Hot Summer Night for RevengeThe Truth of Lies, The Lies of TruthSharp.IV—In RetrospectSusan LandgrafThe Woman Who Held Her TongueCarol SmallwoodHouse of CardsA PicnicRosanne Ehrlich­Two-Year Slide in Brooklyn HeightsLinera LucasSaddle UpSignalLindsey HeatherlyWeaving RopeRobert KingettMy First Online LoveAlice TingTug of WarJudith SkillmanTrellisYears LaterJeff BurdLost in TransmissionMary ZelinkaLast SupperSailor HolladayRed FlagAlison StoneHereticTina KelleyPushed Out of the Chevy, She Adjusts Her MiniskirtMeggie RoyerTwenty Years of RainAcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments of Previously Published WorkNotesAbout the ContributorsIndex