Question
by Giselle Buchanan
If a girl screams rape
and no one is around to hear,
does she still have a voice?
You came up from Boston to visit your family,
catch up with your loved ones,
eat some home cooked meals
and
molest your niece.
Sounds like a wonderful vacation.
I guess those sneakers you bought her
the day after you tried to kiss her
came with strings-
I mean, laces.
She can never wear those shoes without feeling your
iceberg fingers
on her skin
like jail cell bars.
Or smell the stench of urine
stale beer
as it penetrates its way into her nostrils.
This
is not the kind of love she expected.
Never knew those extra calls had hidden messages
like bottles from pirate ships.
Tried to tell her mom of your scarlet letter
but
she is like the sun.
On beautiful days,
promised to scare away rain clouds
but at the darkest times,
she is no where to be found.
Brilliant rays of excuses-
they never burned out.
"You children run the streets like you are grown.
You make others think you are grown too.
This is why you have problems."
Her mom is a wonderful lady,
really,
just clueless.
Like anyone asks for this.
Like anyone pleads to be scraped
by the beaks of vultures
and pecked with talons too sharp
to avoid leaving evidence.
How can you take this situation so lightly?
This man has been a part of your life,
but you didn't birth him.
How can you tend to your neighbors garden
without first taking care of your own?
I cannot understand it.
So she turns to me.
I never knew how special I was until
she named me "Best Friend"
Or how much love could mean
when you chose who to translate it for.
So understand why I feel hopeless,
with nothing to give but words.
they're not much
but I understand how heavy they can feel
when stitched to heartbeats.
So I brand my tongue with your name and
speak for you.
Speak until my explosions
cripple his subconscious,
Speak until my saliva buries itself into his skin,
Speak until He feels glaciers
slash his spine.
Then he'd know what you felt like.
To the man whose penis killed his family.
About Giselle Buchanan
by Giselle Buchanan
If a girl screams rape
and no one is around to hear,
does she still have a voice?
You came up from Boston to visit your family,
catch up with your loved ones,
eat some home cooked meals
and
molest your niece.
Sounds like a wonderful vacation.
I guess those sneakers you bought her
the day after you tried to kiss her
came with strings-
I mean, laces.
She can never wear those shoes without feeling your
iceberg fingers
on her skin
like jail cell bars.
Or smell the stench of urine
stale beer
as it penetrates its way into her nostrils.
This
is not the kind of love she expected.
Never knew those extra calls had hidden messages
like bottles from pirate ships.
Tried to tell her mom of your scarlet letter
but
she is like the sun.
On beautiful days,
promised to scare away rain clouds
but at the darkest times,
she is no where to be found.
Brilliant rays of excuses-
they never burned out.
"You children run the streets like you are grown.
You make others think you are grown too.
This is why you have problems."
Her mom is a wonderful lady,
really,
just clueless.
Like anyone asks for this.
Like anyone pleads to be scraped
by the beaks of vultures
and pecked with talons too sharp
to avoid leaving evidence.
How can you take this situation so lightly?
This man has been a part of your life,
but you didn't birth him.
How can you tend to your neighbors garden
without first taking care of your own?
I cannot understand it.
So she turns to me.
I never knew how special I was until
she named me "Best Friend"
Or how much love could mean
when you chose who to translate it for.
So understand why I feel hopeless,
with nothing to give but words.
they're not much
but I understand how heavy they can feel
when stitched to heartbeats.
So I brand my tongue with your name and
speak for you.
Speak until my explosions
cripple his subconscious,
Speak until my saliva buries itself into his skin,
Speak until He feels glaciers
slash his spine.
Then he'd know what you felt like.
To the man whose penis killed his family.
About Giselle Buchanan