Sunday 28 January 2018

Consent


Consent is a Yes not an absence of No.
I say Please Don’t but you take me nevertheless.
Look at me look at me, passive and still.

I’m a tiny tiny bird, wings clipped, all feathers and fear.

Indifferent you are and once taken, you zip yourself up,
then leave without word and are gone.

Anna :o[

For Joy’s 55 and also shared with the good folk at Poets United, cheers all!

Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons

17 comments:

hedgewitch said...

This totally echoes my own thoughts on so many of the instances of "sexual misconduct" that have been exposed of late. You paint the position perfectly, with great sympathy and craft--the fear and feathers, the force and indifference. I doubt there is a woman living who can't relate. Thanks for this eloquent 55.

brudberg said...

Yes is yes... and should so be. We do have a great responsibility as men and humans to understand this...

I hope that we will learn and still can flirt and have fun...

Sherry Blue Sky said...

You have captured it exactly. I am struck by the image of her as a little bird. I once felt that way....before i flew away.

annell4 said...

Yes, your words say it well. It is all about power, isn't it? I will humble you, I am over you, you are beneath me. I do not recognize what you hold sacred. You will bend to my will. It is time!!!

ZQ said...

painful and illuminating.
ZQ

Magaly Guerrero said...

This is heartbreaking. The passive tone offers a perfect (and terrible) illustration of what it means to lose power, not to be heard, to be robbed of choice. Heartbreaking, and lingering...

indybev said...

...and mothers are responsible for teaching their sons self control and respect for women. One wonders how these men we're hearing about grew up with so little respect for women. Didn't they have mothers???? This is so well written.

Gillena Cox said...

This is heartbreaking and powerfully expressed

much love...

Mary said...

Agreed - consent is a firm YES. The ending is so apt...and so often without a second thought.

Wendy Bourke said...

An impactful and poignant piece. Your words capture the hurt … the humiliation … and the demeaning sting of being ‘used’.

Thotpurge said...

This is such an important issue, thanks for writing about it. You'd think by now we'd be past this horror of abuse and power, clearly a battle still to be fought.

Sumana Roy said...

The bird image is so apt stressing the vulnerability! So heartbreaking! This is a powerful write Anna.

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Succinctly and clearly stated. And it is important to state it, as often as it takes.

Jae Rose said...

An intriguing write - i hope she continues to use the power of no

totomai said...

Powerful, full of emotions. Loved the metaphor too, Anna. And indeed, consent is yes.

Accurate Mcx Tips said...

waoo nice written post about Loved the metaphor too, Anna. And indeed, consent is yes.

Thanks,

Commodity Tips Free Trial

Best call center services said...

These are all amazing! I want one with a slide down it at the side, still a child at heart.


call center for technical support