Do not give the sirens call a listen

I am not sure when everyone slept in We Slept Here, unless it was a drug induced state, but Sierra DeMulder does a lot of other things, too.

She does not hold back. She gives you the picture of a girl growing up in a family that allowed abuse. Oh, dad did not hit mom, so that is how they justified it, but it is forever burned into her brain her father yelling and her mother taking it.

She does not hold back. She gives you the picture of a woman in a relationship that looks a lot like her mother and father. She tells of the ways she was numb (chemically mostly) and how she felt about her lover. Her abuser.

The interesting thing is, what she says is true. You know you should leave, but you cannot. Not the first. Second. Or even fourth time you know it. And in the end, you know that you will always have to be careful not to give into the sirens call to go back.

Her writing is straightforward. A few poems are shaped like the feelings and thoughts portrayed. Therefore, they spiral out of control. Most are bare without a lot of frills.

Hopefully you have never been in an abusive relationship, but if you have, you will see all the things you experienced. Even after you are safely away, you see how they will sneak into your thoughts, your feelings, (an in DeMulder case and mine) your writing. And most importantly perhaps, how you relate to others around you. Especially how you relate to your next lover.