Victorious Voices of Abuse: Poetry and Prose Writings Dealing with Child Abuse/Neglect, Spousal Abuse, Human Trafficking, and Sexual Perversion

By Laura A. Bratton-Butler

Have you ever known anyone that was abused?

Do you think you could/would recognize abuse if it was right in front of you?

This Book of Poetry & Prose scenarios was written to Empower and Enlighten the victims of Abuse and Neglect. Child & Spousal Abuse, Human Trafficking & Porn wreak havoc 24/7 365 days a year.

“Victorious Voices of Abuse” takes you within the mind and thought processes of persons plagued by abuse and neglect.

“Victorious Voices of Abuse” had to be written! It is the Voice of all persons who wanted to tell someone; but never felt strong or comfortable enough to whisper a word, hint, or clue of the obvious, and often not so obvious crimes they were forced to endure in life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532084355

Laura A. Bratton-Butler

Laura Bratton-Butler was born and raised in Bradley, Arkansas. She attended Bradley High School, and graduated from Plain Dealing, Louisiana. Growing up in The Deep South inspired a love of story-telling. Her life’s journey has taken her all over the USA. Her dream of writing this book was borne out of a strong desire to empower and enlighten those who suffer in silence at the hands of others. Coming from a small town equipped her with uncommon love & empathy. For many years her work involved traveling & making Pizza Commercials, and her greatest inspiration has been Dr. Maya Angelou.

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Copyright © 2020 Laura A. Bratton-Butler.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All similarities in this book to actual living persons and events are coincidental, and all names, situations, and locations mentioned are truly fictional.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

All scriptures and references are taken from The King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8434-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8435-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020902289

iUniverse rev. date:  02/14/2020

CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Now and Then

When You Dream You’re a Tree

I Know, Quick!

Tell Your Story

Spill the Beans

Do You Believe?

I Am the Mother Now

Like Royalty: High as a Gnat on Mars

Confessions of a Natural-Born Pedophile

Somewhere

Via Way of Rape

Degrees of Separation

The Rapist Who Did My Dishes

Secret Memory

Conversations with My Abuser

Most Nights vs. Some Nights

Hurry Up and Help

What on Earth Is Normal?

Me Escape

Here I Go, Far, Far Away

To Some Degree

The Big Hands

This Is My Prayer

She Was My Friend

Little Girls

I Met This Guy

Years of Much Regret

Except for That

I Matter

Residual Effects

A Cry for Help That Never Came

That Crazy, Crazy Day

Unhappy Birthday

In Baby Way

There Once Lived a Precious Little Girl

Hey, Rosy!

Permission to Breathe: Aka, the Paper-Mache

Alone

It’s Your Life

What If?

Secrets: If Walls Could Talk

One-Hand Man

I Refuse to Keep Your Secrets

Somebody Has to Be Brave, Brave

In That Place

Downfall of Many

After Twenty-Four Rapes

Little Angel Girl

And Then Came Spring

Live and Not Die

Mother Dear

Let Me Grow Up Whole: A Child’s Prayer

The Word Is Rape

Bloody Dreams

Work and Hurt

God Loves His Children

What Do You Do?

The Edge Within

Self-Conflict

They Say

Cycle of Abuse

Flying Leap at the Moon

The Music in Me

Come On, My Little Hope

Okay, Mother, Okay

I Come

Pieces of Me Lie

Superpowers

Face-to-Face

After All Is Said and Done

Sources and Resources

DEDICATION

Everybody has a story. My story is laced with the stories of others.

This collection is about the stories of my many nightmares. This book is dedicated to all victims of abuse of any kind. This is my motto: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV).

I dedicate this book to all the precious children who felt too powerless and small, unimportant, and invisible to speak up for fear of retaliation or of making things worse in some crucial way. I dedicate this book to all the tortured and heartbroken individuals who may never be able to open up about what happened, or might still be happening to them. This book is for the shunned, forgotten, beautiful, and disregarded people who hide in plain sight and deal with monsters day and night. Hear me when I say, You are not alone!

I thank the people who genuinely loved and cared enough about me to embrace and accept me in spite of my many imperfections and flaws. God sent people like Pearl Witt, who let me crash at her place when I was homeless. She constantly reminded me of who I am, asking, How’s the book coming? God sent Brother Eli, who rented me his spare room and never once questioned why I seemed fine sometimes yet so different and distracted at other times.

I also dedicate this work to my old-fashioned, hardworking, loving parents, Fannie and Charlie Bratton, who raised me the best way they knew how. Thank you, Daddy, for making the Bible come alive for me. And thank you, Mama for all the love and prayers. May you RIP in full assurance that your baby girl doesn’t blame you for anything that happened to me. I trust that I honor you richly by simply being me. You’ve both gone on home but are not forgotten!

Many thanks to my dear friend Betty, who God used to help me so much! Thank you to my beloved niece, Lisa, who has always believed in me. Thank you to Dewayne and Cookie, who supported me when and if they could. If I’ve overlooked anyone, it is not intentional, and I respectfully ask that you forgive me.

Thank you, heavenly Father, for my relationship with you! Thank you that your Word is truth. Thank you for taking what the enemy meant for evil and using it for my good. Only God gets the praise, honor, credit, and daily unfolding glory for my story. My victory truly belongs to Jesus!

INTRODUCTION

At a time when cases of sexual abuse, sexual perversion, pornography, cybersex, human trafficking, and domestic violence have escalated to epidemic proportions around the world, it was put on my heart to fight back in the only way I’ve ever known—with my written and spoken words.

Not a day goes by that I do not hear something about somebody’s child being abused. For years, just the thought of abuse caused me many sleepless nights. When the victim is a child, it takes on a whole new level of rage, anguish, and disappointment, and it literally refreshes personal PTSD pain. I’ve always been super-passionate about the subject of child abuse. I finally faced the fact that the time had come to speak up, and stop living in fear. That’s when life should have gotten easier. But it got harder, so hard this book almost never happened.

Writing has always proved to be a useful therapy toward coping with my story of being cornered by childhood abuse at a very young age. I wanted to tell the world, but I just didn’t have the strength. I kept all those deep, dark secrets deep, deep within a dead place in me, where I thought they could do me no harm. Little did I know there was