you binned the evidence
and laughed because it couldn’t have happened
washed your skirt and washed
the spiked glass with the others
weeks later picked up a nice guy at a bar
threw up on him
a shrink asks if you were drunk
offers hypnosis
instead you become the mute epicentre
of a word of warning
you file a binding spell
as a closed report
on the Richter scale it was barely a three
half a decade of aftershocks
online
in bed
on buses
his black hair near a girl at a party
one day you laugh
telling a friend how tiny he was
you inhabit this silence:
it wasn’t even violent
why didn’t you struggle then
like you struggle now
under his weight
which like Atlas
he has tricked you into carrying
you are not afraid of him
you fear
that one day you’ll see his name
in the news
and that will be your fault
too
Aftershocks
Reblogged this on a storm of tea cups and commented:
Head over to Scum to read “Aftershocks”. (Trigger warning: sexual assault and victim blaming.)
Wow. That is actually one of the most powerful poems I have ever read. Absolutely incredible.
Thank you, Bec. That means a lot.
I have come back to this again and again. Truly powerful. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you.