Let’s talk about it.
Twelve and
the twenty-year-old touching
the back of your leg
where the shorts ended and your thigh began.
Thirteen and
the stucco pulling hair
from the back of your head and scraping
the backs of your arms
as his eighteen-year-old body
crushed you and
his hands pushed your legs open.
Sixteen and
your classmate crawling
up your dazed, drunk body
unbuttoning your pants and
telling you
it’s okay.
Eighteen and
the boy you loved
forcibly turning you over
his grunts and moans
made you nauseous and
the pain of him inside you
made you cry.
Twenty and
your neighbor corners you
in his room and
tells you that you can’t leave
so you beg and
push and
cry and
his arms outstretch around you, caging you in.
Let’s talk about it and
talk about it and
talk about it until
we are out of breath.
Let’s tell the world how
you bent our bodies and
bruised our skin and
made us bleed and
stole from us and
how we are still here
to talk about it.
Let’s talk about it.
Ashley Green lives in Southern California where she is surrounded by brilliant women.
Photograph by Holger Link.
