I stare at the comment
On someone else's post
On another website.

I stare,
And I can barely feel my eyes brimming
With tears.

How quick you are
To devalue
Something so horrific.

And I'm completely aware
That there are some women,
And some men,
Who use the phrase
"****** assault,"
As some kind of scapegoat
To get off free from some type of experience
That they decide they regret
That they decide months after the fact
That they didn't want
I am aware
That this happens.

I am also aware
That there is a war on people,
And it is being led
By other people.

It is a war on something meant to be held close,
And dear,
And sacred.
A war on a way you're supposed to show another person,
Who is also of age,
That you care for them,
And only if they're also consenting.

*** is supposed to be warm and beautiful
And good.
Right?

It's not supposed to be violent,
And ******,
And scary,
And filled with danger.
It's not supposed to make you want to burn off your skin
When someone else so much as caresses your hand.

It isn't supposed to make you shut down
And feel sick.

I have nightmares almost every night
Of something that started when I was no more than sixteen.
I still wake up
Feeling like I can't breathe,
And I can still hear the rain and the thunder
Washing away my screams.

You can ignore this war all you want,
But did you know that one in every six women are sexually assaulted in one way or another?
Did you know that one in every thirty three men is survivor of ****** assault?
And one in every ten **** victims is male?

Every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted.
Did you know that?
12-34 year olds are most likely to be victims than anyone else.

I used to think all perpetrators of the crime
Should be strung up and fed to angry vultures,
But these days the PTSD has got me so bad
That I can't even come up with a valid argument
As to why.