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C Sep 2019
Pastel blue sky longing to
Hang over wheat;
There is only grass.
Green.
Green with envy at white clouds as
They pass.

                  (A different journey)

Poplars strive to touch
Shrunken, grey clouds that
Recoil at the very sight.
Ah, the plight of an
Innocent gesture.

               (Nowhere else to go)

Wind snears:
My train moves it so.
Grass is merely in the past
As I am slung
To and fro.

                          *

The seat next to me is empty. A passenger of invisibility kindly agrees for my bag to rest on their featherlight lap. Reservations elsewhere have been made.
Durham can wait.

                            *

In my lecture, there were four empty seats next to me. All other rows were full.

                            *

Last Monday, I got ****** at Stone Roses Bar. Stumbled along to ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.’
Hands were all over me:
Creeping and
Touching.

                     Why is it that when
I want company, it flees?

When I embrace
                            Loneliness,

             It molests me.
Mel Little Aug 2019
It has long been time to say goodnight,
The hands of the clock caressing my face, lulling me into secluded silence.
But I can still smell your skin on me, feel the bite of the binds.
And so the cigarette still burns. On. And on. And on. And the tears still fall. On. And on. And on.
Agony is telling the same story over and over until you believe it. "I'm fine, I don't think about it anymore. I'm over it."
And then you see something. Or hear something. Or read the ******* newspaper. And your name is never under arrest.
Maybe you never hurt anyone again. Maybe you only took my voice.
Maybe the cigarette still burns so close to my fingers that I have scars. Maybe I still wait for sleep. Maybe you'll catch fire to that bed dropping a cigarette. Maybe the flames will take you.
Maybe I can wait for the next time the pain will hit. Maybe I can smoke another cigarette.
Anna Aug 2019
I am scared.
Not just for myself but for all the girls out there.
For all those girls who walk home alone really late.
For all those girls whose bosses after work hours ask them to wait.
For all the young girls who don't even know much about anything yet.
For all the women whose husbands or fathers get real drunk after sun set.
Why you ask me?
Because of all the disgusting stories I've heard and the terrible things I've seen.
Because men get away with almost anything.
Even if they've ruined a girl's everything.
Because y'all don't want to teach boys to treat women with respect.
You don't want to teach them to back off when she rejects.
You just want to go on about how she should have dressed more appropriately.
But even then would he have treated her differently?
I don't think so.
Because we encouraged this when we failed our girls a long time ago.
When we didn't give justice to all those countless women.
When we let the guilty men walk away as if they had done nothin'.
When we blamed the victim.
When we didn't even let her speak and only listened to him.
We failed when she stopped reporting even, because she didn't want to make it worse for herself.
We failed when we drove her so mad, so devoid of hope that she ended it then and there.
San-Pei Lee Jul 2019
the girl cried wolf
but no one took heed
to her teardrops of crimson

the girl whispered wolf
still rose petals shed into the night

the girl thought wolf
this time there was none left to listen
not even the wolf
Kylee Jul 2019
‘Cause you think you’re so big and so tall
And us so scared and so small
But we’re not
We’re done hiding
We are rising
Does our truth hurt?

Hurt like those words
And your hands
Their stares and demands
That we did this to ourselves
It couldn’t possibly be their
Boss
Friend
Brother or lover
As long as they were admired and covered
By the strength of cowards

You showed us that there’s power in numbers
While then I’d be scared because while you all slumbered
In your thrones of entitlement and institutionalized security
We’ve been building bridges out of each other’s despair
Climbing mountains of self-worth
While you were so unaware
Of us pulling our sisters and brothers up too

Our voices now loud enough to shake your foundation
And cause you to fall, because without hesitation
We were forced to thread shame into the ends of our hair
And carry it with us

But not anymore

This conversation is so long overdue
But our time has come, we know this is true
As there are skeletons willing to rise from their graves
If it means justice finally coming our way
And shining light on all those who thought they could
Take what was not their’s

But now we are here and our numbers are strong
And we will build our own empire out of what was done wrong
Our first ruling order, is not a request
You WILL understand
No doesn’t really mean yes
It doesn’t matter the length of my dress
That your position doesn’t make my autonomy mean less-

My body is not some quest for you to conquer
We are tired of shrinking ourselves just for you to be comfortable

Times up

Your rule is over, this is our kingdom now
And so we ask
Does our truth hurt?

-Me too
Would love feedback!!
Adellebee Jul 2019
I thought this was over
I never think to bring it up
I buried it down sealed the coffin and tied it up
I didn’t think that it would come back
Out of nowhere, and in class
I didn’t think you were still on top of me

I don’t remember it
So, I tell myself it didn’t matter
I don’t remember, so it didn’t happen

11 years later, and I didn’t say yes
11 years later, I didn’t give you consent
you took my innocence from me that night
while my friends continued to forget, you put me to bed

I feel ashamed, that you got away with it
That after you were done with me, she laid with you next
16 never felt like yesterday until this morning

11 years and you still haunt me
I never talk about it, I never remember it
Because I didn’t remember
You violated my sunflower
You made me broken

11 years later, I still didn’t say yes
11 years later, I never gave consent
remembering what i wish i didnt need to forget
Scattered Kat Jun 2019
Most people are near death when they have an out of body experience. So maybe it was myself fading to darkness in those moments … because I was floating above, seeing my body on the bed, lifeless.

Frozen in time as he assaulted me, staring blankly up at the ceiling. I might as well have been dead; the body did not belong to me anymore.

But then I saw a tear spilling from those vacant eyes. My spirit knew that it must return to reclaim what was mine. My destiny was calling for me to fight. Now I put out the flames of demons and bring shame out from the shadows. Now I regain my life.
alexis hill Jun 2019
today

I sat very still

the kind where you can almost hear the silence. I could feel my heart alive in my chest. beating.

walk on. walk on. walk on.

it wasn’t easy
I had to crawl to get here.

a lot of time spent tip toeing
through easily depressing situations

I don’t do well with emotional upsets
slit wrists
like please don’t hurt me
palms curled to a fist

but I couldn’t seem to
escape
his body weight

some things you just can’t
undo

unlike a knot tied
and pulled tightly
straight like a line
testing for sobriety

I AM NOT
linear

but you are

just like how you
think the past
shouldn’t
bother
me

and how recovery
should be me
getting over
it all

can you really call
yourself a professional
if you have never
walked the line?

so.

please- try mine.
life side.
Cha Jun 2019
Eli lived alone

In a normal neighborhood.

She dressed up for work

Like any person would.


She fixed her hair,

Put on her clothes,

And her door

She closed.


She went to work,

Then she came back.

She got to her door,

And almost had an anxiety attack.


Her door was unlocked.

She stopped mid-thought

She slammed open the door,

And was distraught.


Her furniture.

Her clothes.

Her food and drink.

All of it was gone.

Eli could barely think.


She checked her phone

Quickly scrolling through her apps,

Finally finding the one

That controlled all her traps.


She opened it quickly

And rewound the tape

And while watching it

What had happened started to take shape.


A robber had flown through her house

Using false wings

Went in and out quickly

And taken all of her things


Her food,

Her drink,

Her kitchen sink,

Her shoes,

Her clothes,

Her old photos.


Everything was missing.

Nothing could be replaced.

Eli just sat in the middle of the room,

With anguish on her face.


Eli thought about what had happened.

“It will never be the same

There’s nothing I can do and

What I have lost, I can never regain.”


“And because

That is true

There is nothing

That I can do.”


She went to her father,

Feeling like a disgrace.

And told him what happened,

As he watched her with a straight face.


He looked at her angrily and said,

“You left the door open,

So, it's all your fault.

The person who robbed you

did nothing wrong.”


She stared at him in disbelief

“But-,” She started.


“Say no more.  

There will be no debate.

You did wrong,  

so, you must accept your fate.”


She opened her mouth to respond,

But quickly closed it.

This was her father,

So, she had to submit.


Eli thought about what happened

As her father threw a fit

“It’s my fault that it happened and

I deserved it.”


“And because

That is true

There is nothing

That I will do.”


Her father sent her off,

With a satisfied smirk.

He was very glad

That his talk had worked.


Eli went on with life,

But it was never the same.

She roamed a barren wasteland,

Not a thing to her name.


As she was sitting at a corner,

She saw the robber roaming around town.

But, remembering what her father had said,

Did nothing but look on with a frown.


The robber glanced around quickly,

Then nodded his head.

He ran to the door of a house,

And Eli’s stomach filled with dread.


Eli quickly thought about what had happened.

It can never be the same for me,

But everyone else

Should be carefree.


“And because

That is true

There is something

That I should do.”


Eli pointed to the robber

And yelled as loud as she could

“This person is up to no good!”


Everyone around her

Turned to look.

At the person at the door

Who acted like a crook.


Before she was going to speak

Her mind became like frost.

The words of her father started to creep:


“You left the door open,

So, it's all your fault.

The person who robbed you

did nothing wrong.”


She shook her head.

Her father had lied.

It was him who was unjustified.


She spoke out,

Loud and clear,

“This person has done terrible things

And he is someone that we should fear.”


“Don’t listen to her!”

The robber squawked.

“What I’m doing isn't wrong-

Their door is unlocked!”


“If your door is unlocked,

Then you are just asking to be robbed.

I’m not doing anything wrong!”

The robber sobbed.


“What do you mean

‘Nothing wrong?’

What you are doing is evil,”

Eli said while others nodded along.


“You took all my things

That I can never replace

Now, I’m stuck out here

In this wretched place.”


“You should have kept your door locked”

The robber responded.

Eli rolled her eyes

But the motion was unseconded.


Others in the crowd started to agree

And started chanting.

Some screamed their opinions

And others started ranting.


They argued and argued

All through the day

And all the while

The robber slipped away.


“This fighting does nothing,”

Eli said with sadness.

Then the crowd hushed

And gone was the madness.


Eli thought about what happened.

It will never be the same for me,

But everyone else

Deserves to be carefree.


“And because

That is true

There is still something,

That I must do.”


Eli gathered the crowd

And they traveled together.

To the police station

Like birds of a feather.


She told the police

What had occurred.

She gave them evidence,

And they were assured.


The police tracked the robber

And brought him to a cell,

Threw him in quickly

And in the robber fell.


And even though the robber was in jail.

And even though he couldn’t get bail.

And even though Eli got the justice she deserved.

And even though her dignity was preserved.


Eli sat and thought about what had happened.

“It could never be the same

All I can do, I have done, but

All that I have lost, I will never regain.”


She sobbed, “And even though

That is true

I guess I will just have

To try and make do.”




This was an allegory of ****** Assault.
Lily May 2019
My only comfort as my tears fall with the water
Is the fact that I'm scrubbing away his hands,
His touch,
His lips,
His skin.
Washcloth against skin,
Red erupts from my pores,
But I don't care because
I need to get his scent off of me.
Just a whiff, and I gag,
My tears congealing in my throat.
Why me?
What did I do?
His hands were so soft,
But so strong, and
I could not escape.
Washcloth against skin,
I don't even know where to begin,
For he stripped me down to the very bone
And lay my soul and body naked.
His fault? Yes.
My fault? They'll think so.
Red flows down my legs because of
Washcloth against skin.
I drown myself in cherry blossom body wash,
The off brand kind.
My last thought before I stop the water is
"But I'm not even pretty."
A poem for all of those who are victims of ****** assault, whether male or female.  You are all survivors <3
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