I know a woman
who knows what it means
to be held down by
ten boys and raped
repeatedly,
who didn’t tell anyone
for twenty years.
I know a woman
who knows what it means
to have her girlfriend’s
father slide his finger up
her thigh at the kitchen table,
who didn’t tell anyone
for thirty years
and then it just felt like
too much time had passed
and he really didn’t do anything,
anyway, not like the man
in the woods where she
was walking five years later.
I know a woman
who knows what it means
to be visited at night
by her father, how she
stayed quiet, hoping
her sister in the next bed
wouldn’t wake up
and become his next
victim, who didn’t tell
anyone for 35 years,
still believing he would
kill her. When
he died last year,
she finally confided
in her sister,
who knew exactly
what she meant.
I know a woman
who knows what it means
to be groped by a boss,
patted on the ass by
a customer, fired
for not acquiescing
to him, or him or him.
After 10, 20, 30 years
she is speaking up
and he and he and he
are finally getting
their balls busted.
#NoMore
#OneBillionRising
Wilderness Sarchild is the author of a full-length poetry collection, “Old Women Talking,” published by Passager Books, and the co-author of “Wrinkles, the Musical”, a play about women and aging that had its World Premiere at the Cape Cod Theatre Company (CCTC) in 2017 and will return to CCTC in 2018. She has won awards for her poetry and play writing from Veterans for Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Chicago’s Side Project Theatre Company, and the Joe Gouveia WOMR National Poetry competition, judged by Marge Piercy. Wilderness is also an expressive arts psychotherapist, social justice activist, and consultant/teacher of skills in conflict resolution, consensus decision making, mediation, and meeting facilitation.