Rape

Rape

A Poem by Art Freeman

sadness dampens her pillows
inside and out
each comforter
loses its softness
and clout
yet
she's forced to find comfort
without


everything south is
soaked in tears
and premature sweat
her fear
has left evidence
a stain
on
sentiments of a self
to blame


ashamed of a child
she's now forced
to abort as the
first and last resort
a thought
she
uses as closure to an entry forced
wide open


shut from the world she trusts
hoping for something
taken abrupt
from someone still
infant enough
sweet
innocence turned sour
devoured


and cut by the sharp edges
of a love
she used to lust
after before laughter
turned sore
ignored
with each deep emotion
stored


a price she was forced
to afford
with no credit
for stature or esteem
thus a fetish
captured much of her
preteens
spent most of her time dreaming
deep dreams


sinking to the depths
of a shallow pool
of someone else's sweat
she sees scenes
drenched in regret with
colors
she bled in silence as a sign
of respect

© 2010 Art Freeman


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"She bled in silence as a sign
Of respect."

Very powerful line, complicated the entire piece for me. Evoking in me my own rage, my own pain. Innocence robbed from a youth, I would imagine this to be an incestous rape. Ashamed of child....gave me this thought.
You evoke alot of pain here...and you as a man have penned from the womens perspective with great passion. I am perplexed with the respect....aspect in the end...i want to know why she would have bled with respect....I am curious...who is it she was respecting...see i am all twisted up in this last line...
And maybe you intended this...
Thank you for the invite. Peace

Posted 17 Years Ago


23 of 23 people found this review constructive.




Reviews

Loved this..Lived this so you know I can relate to it!!! Thanks for being a voice. Such a powerful voice you are. Wow...simply amazing..I am just in so much awe that I'm pratically speechless. I love your energy, the flow, I just loved everything about it! It almost had me in tears reading it.

Posted 16 Years Ago


3 of 3 people found this review constructive.

this is a very good subject that most writers dont write about enough because it's such a horrible subject, but it is one thing that needs to be told for woman everywhere. it's supposed to capture pain/hurt/confusion/fear all at once and i think you did a fantastic job with that. well done. amazing.

Posted 16 Years Ago


3 of 3 people found this review constructive.

This was an awesome piece of work about a delicate subject, boldly explored and well written. I thought this was simply great.

Posted 16 Years Ago


4 of 4 people found this review constructive.

i used to have a friend who was raped and couldnt bear to hear the word.
so i made every one i knew say "meningicocal" instead.
it sounded bad but it didnt sound like rape.
then, last june, when i was in Rome and dragged down an alley etc etc i guess i expected to be a complete neurotic the way my friend was when it came to the mention or rape or what-have-you.

im not.
thankfully.
thankfully i know how i think feel and process things and so i have worked through the whole event while those who love me are still left grieving. even now.

but i guess i say all of this because i understand how this girl must have felt.
now luckily for me i didnt get pregnant but i had to scream the whole damn [catholic] hospital down before they prescribed me the morning after pill.

im not sure whether its me having experienced this and therefore knowing my experience to be completely different from what you have written or the fact that this piece isnt told from the first person "i" but rather from a removed character looking on at the way she is functioning through this ordeal and therefore cannot possibly know what she is thinking or feeling and cannot put it into tangible words that rip the readers throat out and make them sob for her and for the sorry state the world is in... i dont know... but this seems rather devoid of the urgency and intensity it promises to have.

but for putting yourself in her shoes and for trying to express what she most likely cannot i applaud you. (=

Posted 17 Years Ago


4 of 4 people found this review constructive.

Your vision of this is stunning in it's clarity. The flow, rhyme and form are all great. Such a sad subject, yet very artfully put forth.

Posted 17 Years Ago


5 of 5 people found this review constructive.

I think the simplicity of form, and directness of language suits this work well. No flowers, simple metaphors... pain exists, is dealt with. I love the way you closed to piece. Nicely done.

Posted 17 Years Ago


6 of 6 people found this review constructive.

This told a story of a lost soul....It was as if I could feel her pain.
Very well written

Posted 17 Years Ago


5 of 5 people found this review constructive.

Veyr well done. moving and sorrowful at the same time. wonderful flow and pace with this, held me till the end. nice job.

Posted 17 Years Ago


6 of 6 people found this review constructive.

This is a sorrowful tale, lots of double meanings here. I am lost by the final lines "With/Colors/She bled in silence as a sign/Of respect." Respect for whom? This line bothers me. I guess this is more of the signs of the types of feelings and narratives that others force upon a person who has gone through this kind of trauma. That the victim is a preteen bothers me greatly, and yet, well, this, sad to say, happens in our world. The victim hasn't yet closed the entry forced open yet, and may not, if I read the poem correctly, for some time.

Posted 17 Years Ago


6 of 6 people found this review constructive.

an amazingly perfect poem.
touching, paralyzing.
great work, my dear!
favorite !



Posted 17 Years Ago


6 of 6 people found this review constructive.


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Added on April 20, 2008
Last Updated on October 25, 2010

Author

Art Freeman
Art Freeman

Brooklyn, NY



About
...I rode for Miles on Coltrane...became Dizzy when I met the Duke...spent the Holiday with the King...and a handsome Monk...but it was a colorful Hancock that taught me how to Cooke and Count... - a.. more..

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