. . . the sustaining rhythms of call and response, the power of mutual attention and direct address, of slowing down enough to listen, of connection as a means of searching, solace, and subversion.
ENOUGH is a Rumpus series devoted to creating a dedicated space for essays, poetry, fiction, comics, and artwork by women, trans, and nonbinary people that engage with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
Unfortunately, I enjoy blasphemy. / My nightmares will kill me before God does. / What is a nightmare but what God does / to the trees, hiding paper in their pith?
. . . in the end, the poem is its own witness to something indefinable with which the poet is engaged. Whatever the poet thinks it is, the poem itself is the vehicle, the container, describing itself and gesturing beyond its words.
. . . utopia is a living, breathing, imperfect thing that expands and grows with us. It’s always a reflection of our individual selves, of the larger communities we choose, and of the time and place we are born into.
Everyone already thinks I love you so no one will believe the situation in which we find ourselves, orchestrated by me, is an accident. At first it made sense. When…