thirteen ways of looking at rape

THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT RAPE
Open your eyes to everything
Open everything to your eyes
Taste with your soul
As your finger feel
And look at a sight so beautifully foul
For passion is beauty
As beauty is passion
And the act is beastly
So the two in conspicuity converge.
The girl is… how old did you say?
The man in the body of a boy trembles.
Two, there is a harsh wind
And the flowers must be blown down
Before the flurry, stingy insects fertilize them
The fruit harvest will be low
And temporarily, the ground a beauty show.
Three, we see from this point
The glassy anguish, souls in basement loitering
Minds devoid of purpose diving
And imps denied of minds and beauty
Taking chance and fast.
Four her face glitter in a sweet sparkle
Her lips are full and soft
Her eyes are all aglow
Her thighs uncovered like her mother’s
Like the television’s star’s
Like the albino apes’
Like the virile female serpent’s
He licks the lower lip
As the penis’ head give a tip
And the pulse increase
And oh! She teases and teases and teases
And minds void of purpose
Beauty exposed to blind imps
He rises.
Five it sure will rain
Look at the granny and her pain
She remembers it, if nothing else
It is like knives in her fermenting mind
Red white hot scarring tearing
And the healing, the healing
She remembers the stench, an alien oduor
She remembers the sweat, the huge droplets
Piercing his forehead like huge thorns
She remembers the breath, the scared face
The young boy’s uncomprehending countenance
She remembers the vacuous pleasure
She sees the boy’s eyes wide open
His helplessness as she pinned her down
Her thighs across his frail body
Like elephant’s tracks. How old was she?
She remember when she left him
An hour she stared at the grey roof
Even when the penis went limp
And she had wiped the innocent fluid
And as she remembers
She grins at the photo of the child that was conceived.
Now long dead
Six at last it is six
And papa will be here
And with him. What?
SEVEN it was reported
That the drizzle had swept off
The bodies for it was a sloppy land
But seventeen bodies were counted
Private parts defiled.
Eight they said with smiles
That all would be well
The cold would not reach the room
And the dogs outside crooning
And the beds were warm
But the parents said:
“Well, they are all kids, really”
But later….well
Abortions had to be procured
And everybody was made to know
And two suicides later-
Bodies discovered in the boreholes
And others hanging by thin nylon threads in pit latrines
And mathare hospital and priesthood….
Nine and it was over
The so sweat, well- prepared supper was over
And grandfather had made it, smiling all along
Saying that cooking was his life
Joking like an intelligent dog
Starring the soup and smiling at her
And calling her “mother”
And she though it was a nightmare
He was pushing, holding her mouth with his hand
Almost biting off her young breasts
Pushing! Pushing! Pushing!
The blood gushing out in a torrent
And the breathing so loud, so loud
And there was of cause a death
Yet memory can not die
For that which does not live is not mortal
Is it then immortal?
And the lamp all along swinging and….
Ten and then they said:
“These boys need only sausages”
“We won’t ever have to smile at filthy men”
The boys- minds and beauty there
Were tied
But the penises always stood
Like a dog salivating on seeing poisoned meat
And they cooed and shrilled
And went to business later
For they were successful businesspersons
But the penises always shot up
Like dogs salivating on seeing poisoned meat
Eleven
The maize plants were tall
They had given birth to three a piece
And beans plants used them for support
And they shared nitrogen
Twelve. The sun never rose
It went down in history
For one mind is as many
And many minds is as one
There was grease
There were scissors
There was a mighty sword
There were bottles
There was a sheet of paper with writings
There was a dark liquid
There was a rape
And the benevolent spirit said:
“I made you whole and wholesome
And on the thirteen day I devour you”
Thirteen.