Etc
“Etc.”
what do you say
When you take a breath
And disclose
To someone
a sexual assault
And in their reply
they refer to it
As an
“etc.”
What do you say ?
To a reduction like that
Do you say anything at all?
Or do you clarify
At the very least inside your head
Do you mean the etc of the nights
Where the footsteps of neigbours
Cause panic attacks
Do you mean the pushing of a chair in front of every hotel door
That you have to sleep in
alone.
Do you mean that
Etc.
Or do you mean the
The pulverising self doubt; that etc?
Or the catastrophic fall out
Of every relationship you held dear
Do you mean that etc
Or Is it just
So commonplace now
That it is really just is
An etc
That I should accept
And it’s just
I didn’t get the memo
Didn’t get that
I’m supposed to be okay
With THAT
A that
Which caused
this constant screaming in my head
Is this just how it is now
Just..
An etc ?
And can you be okay
To be okay
with
That
Or do you try and speak again
And say something
anything at all
Beyond the words
you thought you’d already said
out loud
But are now instead
just
Hanging around
Lingering like a bad smell
Inside
Your head
In the dark
In broken blinking neon
A kind of newly acquired tinnitus
you learn to live with
While not even knowing yet
That
nothing will be the same again -
Still.
you try and forget
Until someone calls it an
“Etc.”
And in their casual breath
They condemn you to replay..
That.
Over and over
And over
again
Just to make sure
You were really right to feel
That
THAT
was definitely
More than
an etc.
About this poem
Trying to help people understand what it’s like for a woman after she experiences a sexual assault and the impact that it has on almost every area of her life. Because I think most people don’t understand unless they’ve experienced it.
Font size:
Written on April 24, 2024
Submitted by aoife.crehan on April 26, 2024
- 1:56 min read
- 0 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | Abxxx cxdE Afgch xax xxx fE eexxe ijxEx ixfaf fxh jIE aakF lxgxhxhIxxxh x x akmFl xmdE ba nnlxxF xd |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,620 |
Words | 388 |
Stanzas | 20 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 5, 3, 3, 2, 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 4, 12, 1, 1, 5, 4, 2, 6, 2 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Etc" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/187020/etc>.
Discuss the poem Etc with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In