Topic of Discussion

It’s fascinating to trace the path force travels on a shattered face of glass, or to even distinguish the gradient of colors skin makes when bruised. We begin here.  A close examination of the wound itself will give you clue of the offending tool, and even perhaps the perpetrator of the injury.

Just as an elementary exercise of cause and effect. A series of events resulting in the next.

For example, welts. Ridges caused by a long thin flat surface like a belt. Those gouges are from the buckle. Almost perfect circles on skin? Textbook, it’s a cigarette. A cursory knowledge of the properties of color will tell you how long flame lingered.

Then there are the countries formed by blunt force trauma. Their national anthems have different words, but they mostly march to, “This is your fault, this has always been your fault.”

But that’s not what we’re talking about. The body merely responds to impact. You could have fallen down stairs, or run into a door. Capillaries break, leak. Things swell, turn blue then eventually heal. The body forgets, most of the time.

The forensics of abuse catalogues the incidents, organizing neatly an embarrassment of emotions. Data filed away for analyst or poet. This is where it happened. Analyst nods, and scribbles. Poet runs fingers over the spidery ruptured vessels. Car rides in heavy traffic were high wire acts.

But that’s not what we’re talking about. This is the matter after the fact. (Not the how do I tell you you’re not why I flinch.) We’re just talking about what happened, Ma’am.