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Turn the other cheek by Linda M. Crate

a life incomplete
undone
pulled apart 
the pearls still dancing
across the ground,
i count them;
have always noticed the other
things people miss
like the cobwebs on their door jambs
or the dust on the sill
but i am too polite to say a thing—
even as they jab at my 
perceived flaws,
i don't let their misjudgments impale them;
whilst living amongst monsters 
one must remember their humanity
because i promised myself i would be better
than those who break me down—
i am not an apple to be shaken loose from a tree,
sometimes the best response is none;
if you don't react they are left to turn the other cheek.

---

Linda M. Crate has been full of words and stories for as long as she remembers. Her works have been published in many magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is a two-time push cart nominee and author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).

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