Like Last Time

 

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Content warning for discussion of sexual assault follows this bonus picture of Ornery Owl. Don't say I never gave you nothing.

Free use image on Open Clipart Vectors

I like to tell my stories.

Sometimes those stories are fascinating fantasies.

Sometimes they're reality and reality bites.

I know most people don't like to read stories like this.

So I've given you your chance to turn back.

Now I'm going to let it bleed.

Free use image by Pavlofox on Pixabay

I'm not the only one.

https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics

One in five women in the United States experience completed or attempted rape during their lifetime.

After I was assaulted

By my ex-boyfriend 

My father said I'd get over it like last time.

In 1983 he told me

I should have known better than to go with that guy

After I was assaulted.

When I came home in the wee hours of November 1st, 1997

I wasn't planning on being raped

By my ex-boyfriend.

Having panic attacks every twenty minutes

From the time I woke until I fell asleep

My father said I'd get over it like last time.

notes

https://experiencewriting.com/2023/10/24/oct-24-prompts-pulsing-beneath-the-surface/

Start your poem with “My mother says/said” or “My father says/said”.

For this poem, you may want to try a Cascade.

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/cascade.html

Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. See the structure example below:

a/b/c, d/e/A, f/g/B, h/i/C

Why yes, the post is backdated. I'm getting closer to catching up.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~