We say it's a terrible crime
But really, we're mostly
okay with it.
We're okay with it
if she wore too much makeup
if she was frosty and stuck-up
& needed to be put in her place.
We're okay with it
unless he was a dark stranger
a knife-wielding, gold-toothed interloper
like that guy the rapper played on TV.
The whisper that it was the nice boy
or her grandpa, her uncle or dad
makes us squirm and turn away
because daddies always know best
good girls keep their knees together
boys must always be boys
pulling the weak kid from the tent
holding him down in the dirt to teach him
hard lessons about strength and manhood
Boy Scout bandana stuffing the screams
that won't ever die in his throat
even when he's got a car and wife and kids
but he's grown up to be the strong silent type
& we don't have to hear about his bad dreams
or see the photos of all his ashamed surgeries
so we're okay with it.
We're okay with it.
Otherwise, we'd have
done something about it.