Stop

Stop!

It's what I cry

What I cry when you

Touch

My mother used to say

"Touch with your eyes

not with your hands"

I think she meant "look"

I understood

That rule

It went for fragile items

I am not so fragile

It takes a lot to

Break these bones

Perhaps not as much to

Break my mind

Words hurt

Slung at me like

Bombs and barbs

"S**t"

"W***e"

"B***h"

They cry

That quickly changes

When they learn who

I love

"Dyke"

"Lez"

"Lesbo"

"Lezzy"

And more

Even ones less savory

How does it feel?

Do you even know?

It feels like fire

It distracts me

Claws and crawls

Across my skin

Guilt

How it builds

Swelling up from the inside

Until I burst

Words tumble like snow

Disintergrate into water

My words never quite felt

By the others

Just another insignificant blip

A splash in the pond

It never ripples

Stop!

Stop!

Stop!

STOP!

Leave me alone!

Stop touching!

Can't you ever listen?!

No doesn't mean yes!

It means NO!

But today

You will no longer touch

Avert your eyes from the shoulders

layed bare

I am a Artemisia Gentileschi

A Empress Wu Zetian

A Julie d'Aubigny

An artist

Intelligent woman

And a fighter

And no longer will

I give you what you want