Shout It Out!

Domestic violence is a cycle of repeated, abusive behaviour. It can affect men, women, and children. It knows no barriers of sex and age. Domestic violence affects everyone, everywhere in the world.

The poems in this anthology have been selected to demonstrate the traumatic effects of abuse. They reflect the different varieties of abuse and people's differing responses to domestic violence. Abusers are found in many forms. Elizabeth Beck 'Temper Tantrum' is an insightful poem about an abusive mother, while Bruce Colbert poem, 'She Loved Him Still' recounts the traumatic tale of a boy witnessing his mother's abuse at the hands of his father. There are also poems about the dangers of abusive love affairs such as Debbie Johnson's poem 'Deception' of when a love affair goes wrong. The feelings of anger, fear and helplessness of those being abused are also shown in Cara Hughes' powerful poem, 'Controlled', Ruchhita Kazaria's, 'Will I Ever Heal' and Kate Jones', 'Pavlov's Bitch'. The poems in this anthology also explore other people's response to domestic violence such as the chilling neglect shown in Daniel Klawitter's, 'Neighbourhood Disturbance.'

Finally, there are poems of hope.

These poems detail life after escaping from domestic violence and show how life can be started again and happiness found as in Sylvia Riojas Vaughn's, 'Life After Fleeing to the Shelter.'The following poets had their work featured in the Shout It Out anthology:

Ijaz Bashir AhmadAdeiza AturetaElizabeth BeckLurana BrownLissie BullDenise C. BuschmannNoel CaninStephanie CarterTammy CarterCe Bruce ColbertFathima E.V.Mark FrankEdna GarciaDerek GoodreidNorbert GoraLinda Flaherty HaltmaierEric HarveyCara HughesSterling JacobsSunaina JainJennifer JeanDebbie JohnsonKate JonesRuchhita KazariaDaniel KlawitterLinda KrausMandy MacdonaldIndunil MadhusankhaBob McNeilRichard MilneArchita MittraAshraf V. NediyanadRoseville NideaBozena Helena Mazur-Nowak Anil Kumar PandaGrace PascoPriya PatelSureshika PiyasenaPoetzeeAnkita RathourShirley Rebstock P.J. ReedLenn e ReidRichard RensberryNicole RileyElisavietta RitchieLorna RobertsTerrell M. RobinsonWendy Mannis ScherParminder SinghSharyn StoneLynn TaitKamal Kumar TantiJeri ThompsonMary Langer ThompsonZoha UmarP.C. VandallSylvia Riojas VaughnHeidi WillsonGlen WilsonAbigail Elizabeth Ottley WyattCigeng Zhang