Content Advisory
This poem confronts the fear of sexual violence and harassment, and the silencing of women's experiences. Nothing is depicted graphically.
Aporia publishes imaginative writing. The voices in our contributors' work are their own, shared with care.
I've never been one to fear the tigers and snakes that live among us,
the critters in the tall grass,
or those thunderous winter days.
I fear something far more insidious.
It's what hides in the tenebrous side of the sidewalk,
temptations hiding behind welcoming smiles,
and the rights men seem to think they have over women.
I fear sitting on the train alone,
to drink one too many at a club,
and being me.
Perhaps my smiles seem to be too welcoming,
My tears too attractive,
My voice too dismissable.
Why must my feelings stay hidden?
My stories forgotten?
My experiences belittled?
How many more women must join a statistic for actions to be done?
We live in a world where almost everyone has a story.
Where men walk free for their heinous crimes.
Where children fear men more than the critters in the tall grass.
