This and Other Reasons Why I Don’t Walk Alone At Night
Artwork by Kay Sirianni
This poem was written at a time in my life where my mental health was fraying and I wanted to express my experiences and the experience of those around me. It gets into some deeply personal first-hand experience I have had with people who suffer from PTSD but my true purpose was to talk about the horrors of sexual assault and the mental scars it leaves behind. Sexual violence is a really horrible thing to experience, but the way in which PTSD prolongs victimhood consistently goes unspoken. So I spoke about it, and I hope it helps others understand that this is also a very female problem and many women are dealing with the traumatic aftermath on the daily.
Rape is like all the ‘nice’ guys I have ever met
He forces his way into your head, and then it's your bed
And now you can't rest
But before all of this
I never had this misfortune of meeting the man himself.
But now,
Now - Rape has moved in
Made a home for himself on the bed across the room
He bides his time during the day
Filters into the background
And at night he comes alive in the room
He haunts it
He preys on it
Hell, I think he enjoys it.
Sometimes I want to kick rape out
But I don't know where to start
When I try, he just comes back
He knows just when to show up
Knows how to wear us down
He makes it hard to keep living here.
Makes it harder to push him out
His shit is all over the place
Now my room is all stains and clutter and pain
Rape is tricky like that.
He comes back just when you think you are safe.
I wish Rape wasn't my problem anymore,
But he follows me now.
On my way home in the dark
Alone in my home
Around the men on the street
Rape,
Well he’s like all the nice guys I’ve ever met
Always there at the wrong moment.
Hayley is an emerging writer and journalist who works hard to create work that is fiercely feminist, anti racist and anti oppression on a whole. You can check out more of her work and content on her instagram @hayley.headley