Hi to everyone who reads this. As you probably know, I don’t usually preface my work with trigger warnings or explanations. However, I would like to place one here due to the sensitive nature of this subject and the fact that the effects of these trauma-based experiences might still be alive in us. This poem relates to statutory rape. As usual, I present the poem in its first shape, the way it escaped me. I might rewrite it in the future.
"My sister's the exact same age as you," said Dev, "but my sister is just a kid. It's weird," said Dev, folding into himself for a fraction of a second. It might have been different, but Dev compared and contrasted the two young girls of the very same age, took the damning information, chewed on it all for a millionth of a minute. One kid was a kid; the other seemed ready. Dev swallowed the lie and managed to make it alright with himself. Or maybe he didn't. I never asked. All I know is it was what it was. It was (just) the once, which was once too much.
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