Written by Nina
‘1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.’
i.
Mary and Juliette tumble down the tower cranes,
overgrown weed & tangled daisies
tickle them beneath their cotton socks, muslin skirts
This is a springtime abstraction
of picnics without Crusaders
lingering in the darker woods
ii.
It is this which I sung to you, Juliette;
your daisies wreath has been replaced
by velvet scarfs & pearly furs
you dance the Maypole late at night
the sky that was once star-lit evokes
city sludge. He watches from behind, in the curtains
a wolf without a lupine moon to return to
Mary wishes him banished but it would
disturb all those years of docility
The eclipse arrives during your afternoon tea,
a promising con that brings you to the harbor,
never back.
iii.
They beg the I-Ching for help, Mary
and Juliette, war gossip over a supper
of painkillers, rock candy for dessert
The doors cannot be closed. They wait
with keys & pepper spray, until
the I-Ching sends a Messiah in business suit,
whispering safety in his snake mouth, plastic teeth
gleaming at the sight of lamb pie &
dahlia-strewn beds, an oversized warning
that cowers like a schoolgirl in Spring.
iv.
Keep your secrets tender, tame in your heart
like the Mother Cuckoo hides her fledgling
away from hunters & their legal dogs
Sing dirge over where your navel bled through
on that first night they still condemn you for
Let Mary into your bed to fill interims in daybreak
& the ghastly shrines where he still hangs
This relief is fleeting like the interlude
the choir girls mouthed to you in church,
the Virgin Mary mutely guarding overhead
Written by Nina,
@oldmanheart on Instagram.
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