Dr. Anjail Rashida Ahmad
Joy Ride
in a cincinnati spring,
half full of promise, i am 17 and not quite wild
but wanting something that will make me believe
i am alive,
i am special
despite the knee high mediocrity
that plagues this town…
not at home, for once,
i am free to carouse the night life with some new friends.
they are not so wild either,
but they know where things are happenin’ and we cruise
from party to party…
each place is the wrong place.
things are jumpin’, about to break…
we are from the wrong school… they wanna fight—
pushin’, cussin’ and cuttin’ ensues
so we ride on in big tony’s car.
two girls jammed in at my left, i’m in the backseat
glad to be at the window
sucking the acrid air.
tony drives with his two female cousins up
front.
the music and loud voices spill out into the evening
rushing like exhaust from the windows.
i don’t know where we are going,
i don’t care where we are going…
we could just ride all night
or even for the rest of my life.
the churn of the wheels,
the blur of tinseled images…
feels like i am finally getting somewhere,
anywhere—
after the streets have been criss-crossed
with our aimless yearnings,
the car slows toward a traffic light on highland
near the derelict, bavarian beer garden
hushed like a blistered drunk sleeping it off.
when the car finally stops, the night comes into view
musty like a pall—
in this lapse that snags like the gauze of forever,
voices gather in tumult near the street corner.
they are male, rough and sharp like jagged metal
ready to cut something, anything, open.
loud and threatening
against the thin brittle female voice yapping at their heels…
you better gon’ girl… one voice brakes clear.
git out our faces before we give you something to cry about—thunders another
as if any of their words could make this girl,
thin and looking for what she cannot imagine,
leave them alone or go home.
in the car, we all see
and are silenced. the music goes flat,
thin as a dime.
my mouth, my whole body tastes of metal, of some acid, putrid and burning… all of one mind, the boys explode like pitch.
six from the pack surround, grabbing her limbs.
we told you ,but you didn’t wanna listen.
into an abandoned stairway, they hoist and strong-arm
carrying her body, flinching and jerking, up into darkness, unwitting accomplice.
though she screams, pleading,
no, no… their voices, steeled and gyrating soon overwhelm hers
as they disappear from view.
the light changes, the car engine churns
as the tires whine
against the chilled pavement.
a thin breeze fingers
sinking me back into my seat.
i feel sick almost as sick as the no-name-girl
who was looking for something, anything
but what she found.
Alan King
“Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.
Then the window draws full up on
your mind. There, just beyond
the sway of curtains, men walk”
-Maya Angelou, Men
i watch my sister gape at
boys from the passenger seat,
her eyes, electrons spiraling
these walking helium atoms
i’ve seen guys hijacked
by hormones, their bodies
propelled like kamikazes
i know a fella whose lies were
whispering serpents in girls’ ears,
swaying them from mother’s warnings
i remember the trail of women
my friends neglected, dismembered
mannequins strewn like legos
behind toddlers
that image of my sister lured
and gutted makes me a guardian,
a spectral hound protecting her
from anglers she will mistakenly see
as angels
Cheia: nossa senora
Zachari Curtis
who walks the passage
down and through
our lady
finds her wide
lewdly splayed
and propped up
a glistening wound
i enter and feel
memory jog
my whole being
tau(gh)t organ licks
sharp
dissonant
foamy suck of saline undulations
of sweat stained sand and (breathe)
piss and (breathe)
tobacco and (breathe)
day after street market and (breathe)
red clay and (breathe)
18th century iron and (breathe)
rum and
rum and
(breathe!)
i am awash with womb fog
too thirsty not to breath it in deep
to drink the remnants of spilled petitions
from hollowed out libation flask
and make demands of my own
(chega! pare agora!)
she
dissipates into
unstable suspension
salty
steeped
though water eludes
there is nothing to keep the flies from gorging deeper on this shiny tumescent carcass
except their own superstitions
they tilt close and bear witness
to lardy marble
becoming soap
~~~
Left Behind
Raina Leon
i will not tell i will not tell don't touch i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell don't touch me i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell there i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i promise i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell please don't hit i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i am invisible i will not tell i will not tell i keep my head low i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell force my feet to school i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i hid the marks i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell please don't touch i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell please don't touch me there i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i play nice i will not tell i will not tell why don't you leave i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i don't shower i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell nothing will get me clean i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell you are so dirty i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i smell like you i will not tell i will not tell and can't stop crying in class i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell please don't hit i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell don't touch my sister i will not tell i will not tell don't hit i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell take her instead i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i can't see through sheets i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell the boogeyman makes her cry i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell please don't touch i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i got a good report card i will not tell i will not tell don't hit i will not tell what did i do wrong i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell the teacher called i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not go to school i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell the teacher called i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell don't touch don't touch i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell the teacher stopped calling i will not tell i am invisible i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell somebody kill me i will not tell i want to die sometimes i will not tell i will not tell i pretend i don't see i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell i will not tell don't touch us i will not tell please
in some states
the teacher
must
observe
abuse for
or more
before any
action
is taken
the teacher
reports to
counselors
social workers
child
protective
services
but still six
weeks or more
by then
is there still
a child to
protect
