Black-Out Poem

TW: Sexual Assault

This poem was created as part of a ‘black-out’ poetry writing exercise in which an excerpt of the novel ‘Treasure Island’ served as the base material. On the page, the protagonist describes a sea-faring man so terrifying to him that he haunts his dreams.

But here, when fear of man seeps into our empty mind at night, what plagues us is not wailing or diabolical expressions. It is not these illustrative attributes of man that cause fear, but his violation, and every man’s innate potential to violate. Fear of man turns to fear of men, ever haunting.

But he will not be seen as the villain. He walks through the world unknowing, uncaring, unburdened by the detriment of his actions while we lie in the dark, attempting to black out his presence tracing the lines of our lingering scars.

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Black-Out

The moment came and stared me down,

haunted my dreams on stormy nights when the wind shook.

I would see him in a thousand forms,

now monstrous,

the worst of nightmares.

I paid for the night he took,

forced to bear his sin.