Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Rebecca

I needed a phone.

My car had broken down
For the umpteenth time,
My cell phone battery had died
And I found myself
In a part of town
I've never stepped foot in.

I needed a phone
To call my boyfriend
To pick me up,
And in the morning,
I would call a tow truck
To deal with my car.

I made my way
Around the corner
To a dive bar
With the intention
Of going and
Getting out with the quickness.

When I stepped in
I realized that this
Was not your typical bar.
For one the only man present
Was the bartender
But a few of the patrons
Could pass for men.

As I stood by the bar,
Waiting for the bartender
To come my way,
A huge woman appeared.

She had more swagger
Than Kanye West
On a good day
And her rap was
No different from that
Of the guys on the corner.

In a curt, "don't mess with me" tone,
I informed her that
I was not interested,
I was straight,
I had a man.

She stepped into
My space,
My personal space,
My "you really in my space?" space,
My "I will knock your ass out!" space.

She continued to say
That she could do things
That no man can do
For a woman.

Clenching my fist,
I stepped back,
Saying "Excuse me"
Through gritted teeth.

I did an about turn
And made my way to the exit.
I was not about to start
A fight on foreign ground,
Not knowing my opponent
Or if she had backup.

As I stepped out,
I felt the cool night air
But became very aware
Of the warmth coming
From someone behind me.

She had followed me out.

Not wanting to continue
The "conversation",
I walked quickly to my car.

Just as I reached for
The door handle
She grabbed me.

She pinned me to the hood,
Using one hand,
She hiked up my skirt,
She ripped away my panties.

Roughly, she pried open my legs,
Then pinned them in place,
Leaving me immobile,
Then she went in.

Licking and sucking,
Dipping and nipping.
My body responded
Despite my protests,
My trying to strike her,
Hit her, scratch her
And without my permission,
An orgasm was ripped
Out of my body.

I laid there,
Thinking this was the extent
Of the violation,
Tears forming in my eyes
But I refused to let
Them fall.

Then I felt something
Push against my core.
I looked down
To see her impaling me
With a strap on,
A fake dick.

She drove into me
With no mercy,
And just when I thought
I would be ripped apart,
She found her release
And as a result,
My body was released.

I laid there
For a second or two
In a state of confusion.
What just happened here?

She removed the strap on
And fixed her clothes,
Her expression daring me to move,
My body was too used
For me to be able to fight.

She smiled at me,
"You liked that, didn't you?
I told you I can do things
A man could never do."

She extracted a card
From her back pocket
And tossed it at me.
"Call me if you want more."
Then she was gone.

I picked up the card,
The shock of what happened
Fading away.

Rebecca.
I was just raped
By a woman named
Rebecca.

What was I going to do?
How was I going
To tell my boyfriend?
What was I going
To tell the police?
How was I going
To tell them that
One of their own
Was raped by a woman
Named Rebecca?

I shimmied off the hood,
And pulled down my skirt,
My panties were nowhere
To be found, Rebecca
Most likely had them.

I paced back and forth,
My car was still broken down,
My cell phone battery was still dead,
I was just raped,
All the while I debated
What to do next.

Should I become
One of the many women
Who remain silent
With hopes that the memories
Fade away with the passing of time?

Or should I tell
My boyfriend, the police,
The doctors, the District Attorney,
The judge, the jurors,
The world that
I was raped?

I stopped pacing
And walked in the opposite direction
Of the bar.
I needed a phone.

I found a 24/7 corner store
Two blocks away,
I called my boyfriend and
I told him, then
I called 911 and
I told them.

A year later,
Rebecca stood at
The defense table,
The jury's verdict being read.
Guilty as charged.

She thought she would
Never be arrested.
What woman would admit
That she was raped
By a woman?

At the trial,
Evidence was presented,
My panties that the police
Had found on her. My DNA
On the strap on
They had found on her.

During the trial,
Other women came forth,
Their stories no different
From mine.
The last count was twenty.

Knowing her fate was sealed,
Rebecca confessed to all her rapes.
A total of thirty six,
Thirty five too many.

All it would have taken
Was one woman
To stand up,
To tell her story,
To take this monster
Off the street.

It's just sad that
It had to be me,
The thirty sixth, to do so.

It doesn't matter if it's
A woman or a man,
An adult or a child,
An uncle or an aunt,
A father or a mother,
A grandfather or a family friend,
Violence is violence,
Sexual assault is sexual assault.
Tell your story,
Someone will listen.


Submitted to dVerse & Jingle Poetry 

11 comments:

Unknown said...

OH MY GOD.

You are such a beautiful storyteller...

I shall call you Griot.


My word. I could see everything.

This was brilliantly told.

Well done!

Buddah Moskowitz said...

Masterful.

This leapt off the page into my soul.

You have my utmost respect, as a writer and person.

With gratitude,
Moskowitz

Brian Miller said...

holy crap...

you know it can happen...and i dont know if it did...i am sorry if it did..i know that does nothing but...

ugh...

i do counseling with a few victims of sexual assault...all too real for me...

Lady Nyo said...

Too many women and some men...refuse to testify. Sexual violence is just that...power and control. Domination.

Always tell, regardless the risks....and yell about it.

Lady Nyo

Natalie Sunflowers said...

a sad story, well penned.

Ravenblack said...

Terrifying account. I applaud the narrator's courage to report it. I would think it is very hard, there's all those thoughts running through one's head.

Fayola said...

My heart raced while I read this. I could feel the devastation, the shock, the violation, the justice, as if they were all my own feelings. When it came to rape, I've always seen a man and a woman and I forget that anyone can violate anyone - you've openend my eyes wider. Brillant writing once again kimolisa!

kellie said...

oh my! this is gripping and horrifying all in the same! Awesome penning!!! Love your blog by the way!

my latest poem
http://magicinthebackyard.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5128&action=edit

Kimolisa said...

Thanks everyone for the great comments. Thankfully this has never happened, but it should serve as a reminder that anything can happen. It started out as me talking out loud in an empty office and then it formed into this poem. It is long, but it is worth it.

Claudia said...

so true..it needs one person to stand up and tell them and do something...so glad you did..a brave story..excellently written

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

incredible.

Happy Rally.

 
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