Caitlin Wolper: #MeToo Series

The Rules of the Road Aren’t Fair

Yellow, for “slow down,” not “stop,”
the word I should have said before a coward-
colored bruise bloomed like highlighter
over my heartbeat. A bruise was a kiss

made with teeth in his bedroom, hands held
down without real holding. I learned
to be intimate with the ceiling,
to be silent with my shirt collar high.

At a crosswalk—years after the bruise paled
into skin, the capillaries closed tight, the leaks
of red blood cells plugged—a red hand

on a street corner bid me and another to stop.

The light that saved me from oncoming traffic
trapped me on the corner beside him.

The Snake, Disguised

the door opens, flashes half-light       

when a body enters:

outside intrudes on the bar

he once stepped                      from a stage

just like that, importance

in descending              he once

hissed me down

to silence

 too ruffled      (still)

to speak          i can only see

him      his hand   
how it scales    around skin     engulfs

soft arm of a stranger

the things i could tell her

they exit           

& oh, the things i could tell

her       but my fist must open

first     try    pretend   act      

unbothered      while

my memory: blinded, branded

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Caitlin Wolper graduated this past May from Penn State, where she earned a Master's in English with a focus in poetry. Her most recent and upcoming publications include the Voices Israel Anthology and Z Publishing's Best Emerging Poets series. Also a journalist and writer, she has bylines in MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, Reuters, and New York Family, among others. She currently works as the Social Media Manager for Northside Media in Brooklyn. Follow her on Twitter @CaitlinWolper