At A Desk

My dad put me

In kung-fu in hopes of teaching me how to protect

My temple of a body.

I was ten.

My two brothers showed me

The best way to

Push a heavy man's body

Off of

Me.

In sixth grade

I was followed home from school by three men

In a white van.

They taught me that some things aren’t better left unsaid

That in the case of an emergency

Find

Someone.

Find someone who isn’t a man.

Shopping at the mall with my friends

Taught me to ignore the whistles

The crude comments about what

They wanted to do to my body.

Taught me how to hold my keys in the parking lot

Especially at

Night.

Taught me the best escape to stalkers is sometimes in the girl’s

Restroom

Or the moms with little girls.

The news and

Judges of my country have told me

That being drunk excuses men from anything they do

That being drunk excuses women from anything done to us

That my choice in clothing is an invitation to

Unwanted Hands,

Even if it is a burka or my second grade Little Mermaid nightgown.

That Unwanting Hands is the best swimmer at his school

And there’s no way such a nice boy deserves to be punished

So

Harshly.

At a desk

I learned that I should cover my shoulders

So that I don’t look like

I’m asking for it.