Justice: Testimony

What won’t bend…
breaks.  How can she fend them off
and fend for herself? 
Dagger-down eyes nailed shut,
fist-broken stones pile up
Not even spit to swallow, she drinks in
dry dust.  Justice… always
within reach, sluices its barbed trail
Each absent verdict…
as searing as a stone driven nail
Nail upon nail, stunned
and stilled, stirrup-ed and straddled,
each stunted girl
stays stunted.  Dissident
throats clogged with screams
We know the witnessing
walls won’t speak.  Five? She can’t say
Put yourself in her
flip-flops.  Six?  It’s their territory
Yes, six check-point eyes
say One.  Not a single one saw
or touched, pawed…
or fucked this bride of unrelenting sun

(a previous version of this poem appeared in thedrunkenboat)