ADVENT DAY 7 * MEG RONAN!

tell//don’t

listen, you don’t have to tell me

you don’t have to tell me about it

look you don’t have to

you don’t have to tell me

you don’t have to tell me about it

look, you don’t        look you

look you don’t have to

look    look    look

you don’t have to tell me

look you don’t have to tell

we don’t have to     have     have to do   have to

you don’t       have to tell me

tell me      tell me anything     you don’t have

you don’t have    to tell me anything

you don’t have to

you don’t have        to do anything

ballad of the good guy

ballad of the gluey glands

bouncer peering in my wristlet

the girl in the other bed turns over, pulling hotel sheets over her head

(cavecrawl&tell--there’s a whole alphabet heirophant here)

(tameclawed&celled---an alphabet cohort--ascenders descending & descenders ascend)

are you sure? are you sure?

I couldn’t have been

are you     I couldn’t    I couldn’t

have been nicer    you don’t have to

I couldn’t have been nicer to you

are you sure?    are you sure?

don’t you don’t have to you

don’t    don’t call me when

don’t call me when you get raped

you don’t have to tell me   you don’t

don’t call    when you get raped

do you really have to    do you really need those

you don’t have to   you don’t

have to tell me

you don’t have to tell me about it

are you sure      are you sure

you don’t have to tell me

(caved in & carved under, my alphabet heirophant)

i’ve always been waiting for you to tell me // the ballad of the gluey glands

even in just a towel // a plate of bread lowered to my lap

slipping his shirt on // my little stolen token // inserting my laugh

it doesn’t matter what you say now

& at the check in desk // it’s late already // your rooms are empty

that’s it?

listen     you don’t have to

call me      that’s it?

that?    that’s it?

that?     look we don’t have to

I hope i didn’t    i hope    i didn’t

we’re having such a good time

you don’t have to

we’re having    you    you don’t have to

tell me    that’s it?  I couldn’t have been

nicer to you    are you sure?    are you sure?

I don’t know what you mean I couldn’t

look, we’re having such a good time I couldn’t

have been   you don’t have to tell me

anything i hope     i hope i didn’t   are you sure

you don’t have to tell   listen   you don’t have to    listen

tell me you don’t    tell me    listen   you don’t   

have to tell me about   you   look you     look you   listen

MEG RONAN is the author of the obligatory garnish argument (SpringGun Press 2014). Her poems have appeared in 1913: a journal of forms, APARTMENT Poetry, Robot Melon, West Wind Review, & other lovely journals. She reads for Gazing Grain Press, an inclusive feminist chapbook press, works at Bridge Street Books in Washington, DC & tries to be like a good party.

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.