It is easier to program a child than a VCR. Only three steps. Easy, time-tested, ancient, a sure thing.

First, hurt the child. Hurt her a little, hurt her a lot, threaten to do more, things she can’t imagine. Since she couldn’t have imagined what you’ve already done, her own fear will now control her. She will blindfold and gag herself.

Those are the opening lines of a poem by Elliott Battzedek entitled, “His Favorite Gun is Me.” The poem is part of a new anthology called, Women Write Resistance.

Poetry resisting violence. Gendered violence: Battering, rape, incest, trans-violence.

Poetry as resistance may sound strange.

Yet poetry emerges from the unconscious, beyond conventional notions provided by the powerful, creating competing narratives.

That’s crucial since gender violence holds a “double-bind: keep silent or speak and be ashamed,” says scholar Cheryl Glenn.

When he held her by her ankles

upside down…