Invisible Chains

Published by - Poet’s Choice

Wrapped in glacial chains, my father proclaims he wants to simply ignore his past pains. His past was not neat and fast but agonizingly slow as he waited for the final blow. What was supposed to be a buffer between what he and his family suffered became an invisible chain, locking all the memories in his brain. His father’s undeniable Russian starkness silently manifested in his disciplined writing, documenting his looming darkness.

His sister’s hushed purging behind a bathroom stall as she curled up in a despondent ball. The life of the party to family and friends, but the most likely to hide it all. His second sister’s brilliant brain as she garnered doctoral awards and praise, unable to draw blood from her hateful veins. His third sister’s suppressed anger toward her twin sister’s popularity muted her unique identity and self-clarity.

And finally, his mother’s inconsolable affair with drinking what’s left of any alcohol bottle forced the unraveling of a family they all could no longer bear.

A father swallowed whole by his family’s sinking ship, unable to release anyone on parole. An invisible chain passed to each generation reveals no one is safe from feeling this hereditary shame.