The blood came
Poetry by Elizabeth Gade
Elizabeth Gade is a US based bisexual writer and certified peer support worker. Her lived experience of abuse and incarceration drives her to write and serve her community. She views writing as radical way to show up in the world while connecting to fellow survivors. Her poems have been published in The View Magazine, The Elevation Review, 300 Days Of Sun, Other Worldly Women Press. Find her on Instagram at @elizabethgadethepoet.

The blood came before
the rain did
the poems came before
the healing arrived
the trauma
the trauma
has always been
with it’s snapping frenzied jaws
I never belonged anywhere
the girl who thrived in chaos
prayed to god to make me anything
but dirty
daughter of eve
flesh of the original sin
the shame
the shame
that serpentine scaled spiral
ends here