To make me stronger,
a skeleton,
a scaffolding...
boning
to make me rigid.
To make me hard up
against
the jaggedness.
To keep my spine from
arching when he touches me,
to keep myself from
buckling
when
he says he loves me

Love is too close to
weakness,
hunger is too close to pain..
pain is too close
to rape
and rape
has destroyed me.

Boning to make me
unrapeable.

No man to bend me the way
I was bent.
No man to take me the way
I was taken.

Keep me rigid.
Keep me firm.
Tight-laced against him.

01/24/2003

Posted on 01/25/2003
Copyright © 2025 Vikki Owens