#MeToo (Poem)

This poem was written in the week the #metoo hashtag went viral, and a number of women across social media were simply saying the words “me too” on their statuses, while others chose to disclose or share analyses of their experiences of violence.

How many of us received a call this week,

heard the high pitch in her voice,

put down the thing in your hand –

dish soap, book, ladle –

headed to another room

and closed the door behind?

Who listened, and loved,

and cried when you hung up?

Who chatted about

TV.

and work.

and babies;

the news -

and then there’s that turn –

you’re in that conversation again -

your story, and hers,

and she says “fuck that guy”

and you say “what a creep,”

and you found the word “resonate” to not quite capture

the feeling of loud, body-rumbling reverberation?

Who made a timeline, a catalogue,

for yourself or for the world,