WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

sexual abuse

November 15, 2007

A Typical History of a Pretty Girl

I’ve written 23,791 words — a bit behind, and not inclined to write today. I sit at the keyboard, not wanting to be there. I’ve gone back and given titles to the previous 28 word- splurges. I’ve checked my email. I’ve read this week’s pep-talk. I’ve considered taking the day off altogether. I’ve tucked… Continue reading

NaNoWriMo ’07

memoir, memory, NaNoWriMo, sexual abuse, sexual assault
July 21, 2004

The Therapist

This piece deals graphically with the subject of sexual abuse/ assault. Be warned. 1 I was the woman they needed I was the woman they hated because I was the woman they needed mother sister lover the daughter they held down in her bed they said women have all the power only they said cunt… Continue reading

Poems

poem, poetry, sexual abuse, sexual assault

Ancestral (Artificial )Intelligence

I do not use AI to write. For me, writing is how I think, and I prefer to do it myself. If/when I post anything here that I suspect or know to be AI generated, I will tell you.

I have changed this from Artificial to Ancestral, after Abi Awomosu @ Substack. This medium was made with human history, human thought. All of it, bright and dark. It is ancestral.

Poems

Please do not assume that I am the speaker/ subject of my poems.

In these times of creative nonfiction and fictionalized memoirs, I think of the poem itself as true fiction: it is most likely not factual, but it must be true.

It is likely to be — it is best if it is — a truth I did not know before I wrote, and may not understand even then.

A poem is my way of discovering (dis-covering) what I feel; sometimes, what I think — but it is not necessarily biographical.

sexual abuse

A Typical History of a Pretty Girl

The Therapist