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XI
Picture
LETTER TO HER RAPIST 
 
I know you think 
it isn’t fair I call you that
You have a different memory 
             found the girl and flipped her 
                  on her back and instead 
                          of woman-parts a scorpion’s tail 
 
                                       then she started 
                          before your eyes, stinging herself 
              until the poison inflamed her so badly 
you tried to take it out 
with your mouth                     
 
You think your crimes are mutable
            I’m here to tell you 
                         you ruined everything  
 
                            I have heard this poem before. Men 
        parade their lovers’ scars into the public square 
demand credit for their own bravery. 
 
Somewhere a child kisses 
              a mirror and another child 
                          shoves a pin through her own face 
                                        in a photograph 
 
                          and I’m here talking 
              like it’s a story
about my own suffering
 
              But listen 
                           She’s maybe the only person 
                                        who has ever loved me 
 
                           and now I have
              this thread of fire left in my brain 
that says she could have loved me if 
              it hadn’t happened
 
                          if you hadn’t been inside
                                       holding shut the door.

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