This is Hard to Admit
1955-1981

by Carolyn Martin


I married and divorced,
not once but twice,
the same womanizing man.

It would take more
than a poet ­–
a novelist, playwright,
and psychologist, perhaps –
to explain twenty-six years
of taunts, abuse, and misery.

All he left behind:
three cherished children
who became my life.


* * * * *

Written in the voice of Therese Kolbert Dieringer. Reprinted with permission from Carolyn Martin, Nothing More to Lose (Beaverton, OR: The Poetry Box, 2020)

From associate professor of English to management trainer to retiree, Carolyn Martin is a lover of gardening and snorkeling, feral cats and backyard birds, writing and photography. Her poems have appeared in more than 125 journals and anthologies throughout North America, Australia, and the UK. Her fifth collection, The Catalog of Small Contentments will be released in 2021. Currently, she is the poetry editor of Kosmos Quarterly: journal for global transformation.