orlansky:A Story Like MinePoem by Halsey at the NYC Women’s March#tw rape/sexual violenceWhen

orlansky:A Story Like MinePoem by Halsey at the NYC Women’s March#tw rape/sexual violenceWhen she said the words, “What do you mean this happened to me?!”, there were no dry eyes anywhere.It’s 2009 and I’m 14 and I’m cryingNot really sure where I amBut I’m holding the hand of my best friend, SamIn the waiting room of a planned parenthoodThe air is sterile and cleanAnd the walls are that…not grey, but greenAnd the lights are so bright they could burn a hole through the seam of my jeansAnd my phone is buzzing in my pocketMy mom is asking me if I remembered my keys‘Cause she’s closing the door and she needs to lock itBut I can’t tell my mom where I’ve goneI can’t tell anyone at allYou see, my best friend Sam was raped by a manThat we knew because he worked in the after-school programAnd he held her down, with her textbooks beside herAnd he covered her mouth and then he came inside herSo, now I’m with SamAt the place with the planWaiting for a medical examAnd she’s PRAYING she doesn’t need an abortionShe couldn’t afford itAnd her parents would like…totally kill herIt’s 2002 And my family just movedAnd the only people I know are my mom’s friend, Sue and her sonHe’s got a case of Matchbox cars and he says that he’ll teach me to play the guitar…if I just keep quietAnd the stairwell beside apartment 1245 will haunt me in my sleep for as long as I am aliveAnd I’m too young to know why it aches in my thighs, but I must lie, I must lieIt’s 2012 and I’m dating a guyAnd I sleep in his bed And I just learned how to driveHe’s older than me And he drinks whiskey neatAnd he’s paying for everything This adult thing…it’s not cheapWe’ve been fighting a lot Almost 10 times a weekAnd he wants to have sex And I just want to sleepBut he says I can’t so no to him This much I owe to himHe buys my dinners So I have to blow himHe’s taken to forcing me down on my knees And I’m confused because he’s hurting me while he says “please”And he’s only a man and these things he just needs He’s my boyfriend so why am I filled with unease?It’s 2017 and I live like a queenAnd I’ve followed damn near every one of my dreamsI’m invincible and I’m so fucking naiveI believe I’m protected ‘cause I live on a screenNobody would dare act that way around meI’ve earned my protection, eternally cleanUntil a man that I trust gets his hands in my pantsBut I don’t want none of that, I just wanted to danceAnd I wake up the next morning like I’m in a tranceAnd there’s bloodIs that my blood?Hold on a minuteYou see I’ve worked every day since I was 18I’ve toured everywhere from Japan to Mar-a-LagoI even went on stage that night in Chicago when I was having a miscarriageI mean, I pied the piper, I put on a diaperAnd sang out my spleen to a room full of teensWhat do you mean this happened to me?You can’t put your hands on meYou don’t know what my body has been throughI’m supposed to be safe nowI earned itIt’s 2018 and I’ve realized nobody is safe long as she is aliveAnd every friend that I know has a story like mineAnd the world tells me we should take it as a complimentBut then heroes like Ashley and Simone and Gabby, McKayla and Gaga, Rosario, AlyRemind me this is the beginning, it is not the finaleAnd that’s why we’re hereAnd that’s why we rallyIt’s Olympians and a medical resident and not one fucking word from the man who is PresidentIt’s about closed doors and secrets and legs and stilettosFrom the Hollywood hills to the projects in ghettosWhen babies are ripped from the arms of teen mothers and child brides cry globally under the coversWho don’t have a voice on the magazine coversThey tell us take coverBut we are not free until all of us are freeSo love your neighbor, please treat her kindlyAsk her story and then shut up and listenBlack, Asian, poor, wealthy, trans, cis, Muslim, ChristianListen, listen and then yell at the top of your lungsBe a voice for all those who have prisoner tonguesFor the people who had to grow up way too youngThere is work to be doneThere are songs to be sungLord knows there’s a war to be won -- source link

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