A Letter to My Maker • • • Connaught Riley

Banshee

Tilly Boraks

Medium Statement: digital collage

Like Mother Like Lover

McKenzie Taylor

Content Warning: abuse, sexual assault

I try to imagine him as a child Soft, innocent, beautiful Ripping open his mothers womb His first transgression He laughs in her face He does not care for her gentleness He does not apologize after he shames her He maims her with calloused commands He pulls on her heart Tears it Shreds it

But she still rocks him to sleep She holds his hand as he learns to walk She feeds him, holds him, plays with him She takes him to soccer practice She picks up his dirty laundry Washes it Folds it

I remember him in the beginning Soft, innocent, beautiful Ripping me open with his fingers His second transgression He spits in my face He does not see the saliva turn to tears He does not hold me after he fucks me He nurtures me with empty promises He squeezes my throat Breaks it Crushes it

But I still watch him sleep I hold his hand as he cries like a little girl I love him, hold him, pray for him I take him as he is I pick up his dirty laundry Wash it Fold it