TW: rape, child abuse, assault, sexual abuse
Shrinking in the Bath
Marcy’s second grade teacher asked her
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Marcy replied
I want to be the remnants of a bar of soap.
Marcy remembers that her
thighs didn’t flinch the
first time.
They didn’t know they
should.
Remembers holes in her
tights holes in her
fruit of the loom remembers
urine that didn’t discourage rem
embers hot wet cheeks
remembers flinch remembers
push remembers sting the
stomach the stomach remem
bers hands too strong re
members her place
thighs in
place remembers
numb remembers black
remember nothing.
That little sliver that’s left in the tray-
Too small to be handled by anymore hands-
Fragile and ignored.
Ruth Carr is an advertising major at University of Oregon, with a minor in creative writing. Last year, Ruth was accepted to and completed the KIDD poetry program through University of Oregon, concluding with a thesis on the social implications of language commonly used in poetry to describe women.
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