He’s just a person
who lives in the building.
He occupies the husband’s space in the frame.
We must be able to trust one another.
Public, private—it’s just how things are.
It rained. I took a walk around the parking lot with an umbrella.
When I came inside, a little girl was at the elevator.
She had a kind of shell on her back, like a turtle shell that held two swords.
She pulled down the neck of her shirt and showed me the scrape
on her shoulder, where she fell off her scooter. Yesterday was her birthday.
Does looking at her picture tell you something?
The dream is represented by people at a distance.
She’s been afraid for a while.
Curatorial note: The following poems are a response to a call for poetry about rape culture for the annual Delirious Advent Feature; the call is in turn an immediate response to the Rolling Stone story “A Rape on Campus” about rape culture at the University of Virginia. However, they are also part of a larger conversation about rape in poetry communities. Curated by Jessica Smith and Susana Gardner.
Kate Greenstreet thank you. Big Love,
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