adults,
doctors,
priests,
the man on the bus with his hand on my knee.
All the assembled assholes of the western world,
I've been through them
one
by
one.
I'm a sweet little bee
with a million stingers.
Go ahead and pat my ass now--
I'll make you feel my pain if it kills me.
Ladies, you almost-friends of mine,
discuss me til your lips fall off.
This one says this
and that one says that
about my manner and my choices and
the teeming cosmos of all you think you know but don't.
Today a famous perv got 175 years for exercising his shriveled soul
at the expense of others.
Not enough, but better than business as usual.
Meanwhile,
us bitches,
us drunks,
us suicides,
gather at the river, lifting our skirts and wading in
just as if it, and we, and our better angels
hadn't already gone on without us.
________
Image at top: Annie Murphy
Larry Nassar's victims speak out HERE.
I'm crazy about the second stanza and this:
ReplyDelete"Meanwhile,
us bitches,
us drunks,
us suicides,
gather at the river, lifting our skirts and wading in"
this news did sicken me. i'm glad if you see something, you say something Shay
ReplyDeleteThis poem- sadness beautifully expressed. I also love this:
ReplyDelete"Meanwhile,
us bitches,
us drunks,
us suicides,
gather at the river, lifting our skirts and wading in"
Though unaware of the particular perv, am familiar with the type and 175 years isnt enough but as you say better than business as usual. Strong and sure, as always, my friend.
ReplyDeleteMy big joy is the moral code in prisons (or so they say). I've heard that guys in prison hate child molesters.
ReplyDeleteHe'll get his... Hopefully he'll be someone's girlfriend several times a day. Every day. For 175 years.
I don't know how a person abuses someone weaker, someone entrusted to them, and justifies it to their self.
ReplyDeleteI echo all the positive comments here. Great poem, btw, la la Mosk
The thought of showing anything but contempt for with "his (or her) hand on my knee" against my will makes me want to break a nose... and, perhaps, some finger bones, too.
ReplyDelete175 years is spit in a bucket compared to what he deserves. An OU gymnast recently did an interview revealing that she is Athlete A in the complaint against Nassar. He could have been stopped years ago if the powers that be hadn't sacrificed those girls for medals and endorsements.
ReplyDeleteI actually tried to write a poem about this, but I didn't do it justice. You did.