Beetle Wife

[Fae]

Very dark and harrowing poem. Subject matter like this is very difficult to talk and write about, for obvious reasons, having witnessed such domestic violence myself in the past, seeing it unfold makes your stomach drop through the floor. I can't even imagine what it's like for the poor souls who endure it... Now, to break it down a little bit.

beetle wife. smash her with thumbs and 
watch red ooze onto the skin.

(I think using beetles as a metaphor is pretty powerful, as during abusive relationships, the abuser has a tendency to dehumanise the person they abuse, seeing them as disposible as bugs. It really shows the mentality of an abusive husband. Is "beetle wife." supposed to be in the poem or did you intend that as a title? Another interpretation, is that you're using beetles as a metaphor for how vulnerable the abused partner feels when they're in this relationship.)

lick it off if you want, tastes like summer.
antennas burned, shrinking like matchsticks
wings ripped off and blown away with breath 


(I find these lines pretty distressing, though I think you could find something else instead of it "tasting like summer" or, if you wanted to, you could leave this in and find a way to explain what that means in context with the rest of the poem. Perhaps something like "tastes like iron" would be better? Moving on, the antennas being burned, as in, the antennas of a beetle, something essential for them to feel around in the dark for example, could represent the abused wifes ability to trust anybody being destroyed by her tormentor. The wings symbolically represent freedom for me, and the fact that it's been so easily destroyed, and just thrown to the wind by the abuser is very, very upsetting to hear. You could expand on these and use each part of the bugs body to represent each aspect of the personality that is deeply harmed during awful relationships like this.)



I am reminded of the meat market, plastic
baskets full of raw meat bathed in blood

(Feels to me like this is the part where you're describing your own visceral revulsion towards situations like this, and them occuring so commonly, with so many people feeling like they can't escape them)

the silence sprawls across us / my mouth is stunned

(I would turn this into some new lines, I'd say. Maybe have some "parents" i.e the "us" you're talking about, witnessing what the "boy" is doing, and being stunned by how cruel he is, and perhaps intervening. Though that's up to you, personally I feel as if the poem itself is so distressing to read that maybe it'd be nice if there could be some hope shown for the beetle wife. Her eventually being able to grow back her "wings" (her free movement and ability to go where she pleases) her "antenna" (her trust in other people being restored with time.)