Justice
The following poem grew out of a news article that I read in utter disbelief concerning a rape case in Minneapolis. As the poetry collection that I am working on pertains to sexual assault, the story seemed perfectly in line with the subject matter I have chosen. The case itself is so egregious and problematic that it remains almost unbelievable. That said, I am including multiple links to articles covering the case that you may explore before reading the subsequent poem if you’d like. My poem will be below the links and functions as one of several meditations I have composed on rape culture and its reach in modern society.
Washington Post Link – Click Here
Justice
March 24, 2021
In Minneapolis, they ruled
consent to drinks, akin
to consent to sex.
Unanimously.
Six to zero.
Her night of partying,
his reason for rape.
Blacked out, fading as
he humps her unconscious
half-corpse, locomoting
her immobility, bodies proving
Newton’s first law,
and what an unbalanced force
his writhing limbs and
panting breath exert
on her –
five shots and one pill
her waiver, legally
acceptable, apparently
in the form of a blank check
to anyone
who wished to fuck,
consciousness-optional.
The seven Justices,
they call themselves.
Don’t blame us, they say,
finger-wagging the legislature in
classic psychological projection.
The perpetrator washed clean
by his own body’s fluids.
The Justices absolved of
their lone, eponymous job.
The only guilt belongs to her.