Testimony

Untitled (athlete), Katie Burleson

[Trigger Warning: Brief mention of r*pe]

The best way to remember is to be born again

completely, slick with red and heat,

til the cord is cut and the body stilled into awe.

At trial, the mind re-buries itself,

memories stacked like silver fish.

One last drink for every hurt to carry.

One for his hands, one for the knife,

one for the hot pulse inside you

as body met body against the wall.

A lawyer would never argue his real fear

is of being done in prison by men

the way he did you.

Instead, the mind tries to forget.

Safens itself inside morning drives,

fog burning across a lake,

the gentleness

of smaller things.

About the Author

Meggie Royer · Macalester College

Meggie Royer is a writer and photographer from the Midwest who is currently majoring in Psychology at Macalester College. Her poems have previously appeared in Words Dance Magazine, The Harpoon Review, Melancholy Hyperbole, and more. She has won national medals for her poetry and a writing portfolio in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and was the Macalester Honorable Mention recipient of the 2015 Academy of American Poets Student Poetry Prize. “Testimony” first appeared in Cleaver Magazine. 

About the Artist

Katie Burleson · Wheaton College

Kate Burleson is from Cape Cod, Massachusetts and she graduated from Wheaton College. She is currently at the Miami Ad School to become an Art Director. “Untitled (athlete)” first appeared in Rushlight.

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