What pisses me off is that you are the one
they call murderer. Treat me like a thing
to protect, and you get to be the monster.
Like it was not me who shot
up the club and gave new meaning
to a last dance. Not me who sat back
in my hotel room and turned the music festival
into one long scream. Not me who interrupted
a classroom of children learning ABC’s
and punctuation taught them
how I. End.
A sentence.
They say you think
you can play God, but in this country, I am God.
They’ll argue that I’m innocent,
closets of suits will pledge allegiance, write clean,
crisp amendments. While you do nothing
but choose to save your life and you get riots
outside the clinic, a bomb in the belly
of the dumpster? Tell me, what have you been
aiming for? Joy? Freedom? A body
that is yours? Let’s be clear:
I’m the only one of us
who is not pro-life
here.
2018
Contemporary
2023
Persona Poems
Politics
Womanhood
Allusion
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
Ellipsis
a literary device that is used in narratives to omit some parts of a sentence or event, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps while acting or reading it out.
Rhetorical Question
a question asked for effect, not necessarily to be answered