Amanda J. Forrester
Dearly Beloved
Let us now kill
each other with blades
we bled to wield.
We shall kill
the women we love
yes, love
and kill them with our words, laws
I will call my father and he will
be pleased.
My mother will be pleased if
he is pleased.
She will accept our blades—obedient
to her vows
to his rule
and we shall be free
to ban together for our own
sake, the sake
of our children, though
half will be murdered as they sleep, wake
to see their funerals online.
in time
they will inherit our blades
that murdered them, turning
toward each other with blood
in their eyes
yes, let us now proceed
and lift our inked blades
and cast our ballots.
Poems by Amanda J. Forrester have appeared or are forthcoming Collective Unrest, the Sandhill Review, and the anthology We Will Not Be Silenced: The Lived Experience of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Told Powerfully Through Poetry, Prose, Essay, and Art (Indie Blu[e] Publishing, 2018), edited by Christine E. Ray, Kindra M. Austin, Candice Louisa Daquin, and Rachel Finch. Forrester received her MFA from the University of Tampa. She serves on the executive board of YellowJacket Press and snuggles with her fur babies when she isn’t working long hours as a data analyst at Saint Leo University. Follow her on Twitter @ajforrester75.
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