Submission by Urvashi Iyer. Photograph by Winona Lo.
Trigger Warning – This poem is about the “Me Too” movement. It is a simply means of expression and is in no way intended to offend anyone.
Plastered smile
Planted feet
Insecurities buried underneath
A frozen pond
Just waiting to crack
As she beats herself blue and black
Because this unjust world
Blames the victim for a crime
That the man commits, but the woman does the time
At the bar, in the metro
On the streets or the kitchen at home
No matter where she goes, they just won’t leave her alone
She will run and she will beg but
She is after all only an object
Upon which actions and apathy seem to have no effect
These lustful fiends are treading time,
Soon they’ll be drowning in oceans of lies
When the caves within her heart echo her piercing cries
Because though she is quiet and
Though she is smiling,
Her body won’t let her forget the scars she is hiding
Me
She screams, hoping for a reply
Me too, a voice whispers back nearby
So many women
Me too’s everywhere
How many will it take for men to think before they dare
Disrespect another body or
Violate another soul, or perhaps attempt to
Mend her so that she may once again be whole?
~Urvashi
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