The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 10/29/08 (warning: graphic language)

[BlueIris]

"In the Movies"

When a man rapes a woman because he's a soldier and his army's won,
there's always somebody else holding her down, another man,

so the men do it together, or one after the other,
in the way my brothers shot hoops on the driveway with their friends

while we girls watched. Their favorite game was PIG.
A boy had to make the exact shot as the boy before him, or he was a P

I G consecutively until he lost. I've been thinking
about the sorrow of men, and how it's different from the sorrow

of women, although I don't know how—

In the movies, one soldier holds the woman down, his hand over her mouth,
and another soldier or two holds down the husband

who's enraged and screaming because he can't help the woman he loves.
When the soldiers go, he crawls across the dirt and grass

to reach his wife who's speaking gibberish now.
He kisses her cheek over and over again...

—The woman lives on. We see her years later,
answering a man's questions in a drawing room, a crescent scar

just above her lace collar. She's dignified and serene. Maybe
her son has recently been killed, maybe she's successfully

married her daughter.
How can a woman love a man? In the movies, a man

rapes a woman because he's a soldier and his army's won, and he
wants to celebrate—all those nights in the dark and the mud—

and there's always someone else holding her down, another soldier, or
a friend, so the men seem to do it together.

—Marie Howe

[BlueIris]

1. Kick.

[BlueIris]

2. Hello?

[RetroLounge]

3. Marie Howe is SO good...

:hi:

RL

[BlueIris]

5. I know! nt

[Chan790]

4. Thought-provoking (n/m)...kick.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. I think the all consuming question is right there in the middle

"about the sorrow of men, and how it's different from the sorrow
of women, although I don't know how—"

if we could just figure that out we might get somewhere.