TW- Topic is Physical Abuse in intimate relationships if that’s too much today save this for another day.
Some literary and visual artworks are written slowly, over weeks, shaped by distance and reflection.
Others arrive all at once, urgent, sharp, and unwilling to wait.
This piece lives in that second category. It speaks to intentional harm, to the lie that pain can be justified by love, and to the quiet danger of staying when leaving feels impossible.
Pain on Purpose exists to name what should never be normalized.
Pain on Purpose
I wish I could say
I didn’t quite
understand
why
you
chose to believe
purposeful pain
could come
from an
individual who truly loved you
Actions
aligned more with
their same behavior
after anything they claim they own
isn’t fucking flawless
Love doesn’t
look like
this
Eyes swelled shut
will hopefully heal soon,
allowing insight
to guide you toward leaving,
or
you may lose your life
Human hands held hopes
now
positioned painful, precise punches,
willingly wronging you without worry.
Did a part of this piece hit you, linger a little longer, or spark a line of your own? Leave a comment with the feeling that stayed the longest/hit the hardest/ came out of the blue, or the thought it created. No need to explain your pain to engage with this work. Presence is enough. All commenters interactions welcomed and appreciated.
Poet’s Note
This poem was written in response to witnessing the ongoing cycle of relationship abuse and the silence that so often surrounds it.
Abuse does not always happen behind closed doors, and it does not always stop when there are witnesses. What stays with me is not just the violence itself, but the way people look away, rationalize, or convince themselves it is not their place to intervene.
The phrase “purposeful pain” matters here. Abuse is not accidental. It is not a misunderstanding. It is a choice made repeatedly, reinforced by control, fear, and isolation. This poem speaks directly to the myth that love can coexist with intentional harm. It cannot. Or that staying leads to the abuse stopping. It doesn’t. Love does not require endurance of violence to prove loyalty. Love does not demand silence to survive.
Writing this was not about offering solutions or advice. It was about naming the danger plainly, without euphemism, and refusing to soften what is already too often minimized.
Pain on Purpose is a reminder, to anyone who needs it, that harm disguised as love is still harm. Survival should never require shrinking, hiding, or accepting violence as the cost of connection. Poetry cannot stop abuse on its own, but it can tell the truth out loud, and sometimes that truth is the first crack in the wall.
If you know someone who creates work that calls out abuse, enjoys work that speaks support to those who feel weak, or needs to be held by words that refuse to lie, please share this poem with them. Let it move where it needs to move.
Hey, One Last Thing Before You Go..
If you love poetry that calls out many forms of abuse. For example highlighting victims of political, intimate, financial, emotional, economic, and other forms of abuse in uplifting and resourceful ways. Or if you love supporting honest, independent publishing, please consider donating to help sustain our penned pain, pleasure, peace, positivity, and publishing projects.
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