Alicia Ostriker




Anger II: the Rape

No cruelty is like the cruelty
one turns against oneself
after being raped
one feels covered in slime and shit
said the old woman grimly

This place used to be a park
now it is a parking lot ha ha
for which I am in the ornamental fringe
don’t tell me I should get over it
said the tulip bitterly

Definition of a bleeding heart—
you could not bear to look
so you crossed the street and did nothing to stop
the man on the corner with the stick
beating me said the dog belligerently