You didn't say no...

In light of the the many women coming forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein and my own personal experience, I wanted to write a poem around sexual assault and consent

A pair of hands upon your shoulders

Fingers squeeze around your thigh

Nausea building within your stomach 

Your body frozen - a silent cry

The violence that we see in movies 

The sensational stories in the news

This isn’t what you’ve yet encountered

And so you find a way to excuse 

He says he’s just drunk and joking around

“All I did was squeeze your bum”

Now look at you silly, overreacting

“Drink some more, we're just having fun”

Things have stepped up a notch

In this erotic exchange 

You leave feeling dirty

And the one to be blamed 

If you hadn’t drank so much

Or had shown that much skin 

“You really need to be more careful”

Patience slowly wears thin

Guilt and fear begins to mount

You didn’t say no, you must’ve given consent

But you felt pressured and coerced 

But still not a no, so the silence leant

Towards the swamp of shame, 

You now find yourself stuck

He didn’t physically hurt you 

Just put it down to bad luck

But emotional wounds

Take much longer to heal

Angry, confused or upset

You need to check how you feel 

1 in 5 women

Too many to count

Consent is a yes

Absent from pressure or doubt.

Author's Note

Feedback is welcomed please.

Reviews

[Poetic License]

Thank you for this offer. All truth, and wonderfully stated.