Ragdoll
written by: Liz
I don’t know if I can go to court though, says Jane.
The police officer nods her head, like a well-oiled, hydraulic piston.
I want to be brave, Jane says. I really do
But do you know how it feels, to have your body used like a rag doll?
He thought I was made of scrap fabrics.
Afterwards, I thought of the forest
where elfin trees brush the sky,
where the stream trickles round the feathery fern.
This was always my safe space,
The forest pushed to survive.
He thought I was engineered for softness,
He thought, my body belonged to him.
In the police officer’s eyes, I saw all the other ragdolls,
Embroidered with love but destroyed by monstrous lust,
Like sharp needles through their fabric carcasses
I heard the forest roar,
Ripped stitching for a forced fuck:
an eye for an eye.
