Two Poems (Anonymous)

Anonymous

One

My side hurts

fingertips to shoulders are velvet opera gloves

heat shimmies up leg 

(predator’s hands under my skirt).

Two

 Someone told me to trigger-warn my life for them,

Interrupted me and told me I needed to trigger-warn my life for them, 

as if hearing of the violation 

and my resistance to the violation, 

was itself a violation.  

Shame 

silence hovered 

I said, 

My option was to be brave,  

That’s your option too.

Copyright Credit: Anonymous, “One" and "Two" from Survival & Beyond, Issue 1 / Spring 2024 (Safe Passage, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Safe Passage. Reprinted with the permission of the author.