Fish/Nets
A fantastical narrative feminist horror poem based on America’s broken statutory rape laws, which exonerate men who abuse their child brides, and the pervasive culture of victim blaming
Everyone always said she looked like a mermaid
Pulled from the sea and forced to face the light of day
What with her long, wavy hair tangling in the tide
Sometimes I find myself sitting beside that sea of black ink
Waiting for my serpent friend to slither up beside me
But today, unlike her as it is, I find her gone again
And I fear she’s not coming back
Not after what happened with her husband
I think back to when I saw her last
Her legs ran red with blood that glistened in the summer sun like rubies
Shining like the diamond on her wedding ring lost to the thrashing sea
Gutted like a fish with bruises across her painfully human wrists
Regretful as it is
She doesn’t even try to hide the marks on her face from that man’s fists
The cuts in place of conversations or kisses
After all, our entire fishing village doesn’t seem to mind it
They toil about their weary lives and brand it a private matter
She wishes to live in the…
