rape culture

by Christine M. Hopkins

you almost forgot that
after it happens, friends
abandon you all at once without
a word

everyone at the same time
is too busy or
not equipped or
dealing with their own shit and
you respect their reasons but
they come at such a frequency in
such an overwhelming
exodus from your life it’s like
they were all waiting together with
bated breath, refreshing their screens
for something to push them over
and out and
this is it

so you sit in …

by Bonnie Billet

my step mother said she’d feel nothing
if she were raped     her daughters
turned away from her    my mother
said something terrible happened to her
but when we came to listen    she said nothing
my french teacher asked me
how short my skirt was
when I told her
I was attacked

I’ve had to slap
scream and shove my way
to No
I was pushed against a wall
by French school boys    three times …