Susan Daniels Poetry

what was it i heard
you calling my name at sunset
over apples fallen to ground already
you with the wanting
a way out again not enough
to hide in the basement
we must make our lovers
ask the stone mouse where
we have hidden our children

-arms out-

call a stranger your twin brother
i am as much he as anybody is
reaching out to touch your corn
silk

you a sick bird in the desert
your lungs drawing out in slow breaths
the others come hungry, they come good and
ready to eat
the glittering fruit

listen i have this voice inside me that tells me
to lie
she tells me your electric is
the wire kind strung up on angels
humming she thought to herself it was
a retelling of her mother’s glory
she thought it would be
like swimming or climbing a tree,
told me it…

By Any Other Name

I want it to hurt,” he said,
(meaning,it hurt).

Though she did not get pregnant,
(meaning, perhaps, that the pain was ‘legitimate,’)

even though he had no gun,
(if a hard sell for‘forcible.’)

Still, her body, it seemed, shut down,
(meaning, hurt)

for some period afterwards
(years),

as he forced himself, these times, into her head,
(which is to say, as he hurt her),

just as he had wanted,
(no matter what words you use),

and she had not.

*********************************************

The above is a draft poem written in response to the remarks of Todd Akin, six=term Missouri Representative and current Senatorial candidate,  about the lack of need for a rape exception for abortion bans due to his “understanding” that many women’s bodies “shut down” during “legitimate” rape and thereby avoid pregnancy.  Many Republicans have distanced themselves from…