«Screams and yells fill the room…» — Summary

VegimAngry

Screams and yells fill the room, a belt snaps bringing sudden doom. His words they sting like fire and ice Benevolent is not in his dictionary, neither is nice. It wasn't done right, It wasn't done well. You're a shit daughter, "Go to hell" But of course he can't go, For he's the ruler of that abode. Once more, a belt, another, a shout. I need to get out, Get out, GET OUT. I need to get out, somewhere far out of sight My windows right there, I can sneak out into the night. So many places a person can be but none for me, no, none for me. It's late after midnight, the shows have all stopped. the bowling alleys closed, and they've all closed up shop. The bars are open, but I'm only a girl. Lost and alone, in this patriarchal world. I need to get out, Get out, GET OUT. I need to get out.

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Written from inside a violent home, Vegim's poem puts us in the room with a girl who is being screamed at and, it seems, struck with a belt. Her father's insults come fast: nothing she does is right, and she is "a shit daughter." The line that he is "the ruler of that abode" shows how little power she has under his roof.

The speaker's main feeling is the urgent need to escape, and the repeated "Get out, GET OUT" grows from a whisper into a shout. Her window offers a way out, but the night gives her nowhere to go. The shows are over, the bowling alleys are shut, and only the bars are open, which are no place for "only a girl." Her fear of the world outside is nearly as strong as her fear of home.

The mood is tense, desperate and claustrophobic. The simple rhymes and short lines make the poem feel like a panicked heartbeat, and it ends with the same plea, still unanswered.

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