Measured in Minutes

By Jennifer Saunders 

I read it, and I saw a drunken sexual assault that probably was measured in minutes by two creeps with no premeditation. — Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) on Twitter 9/17/18 1:28 AM, responding to attempted rape allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.

Cover (one Mississippi) your (two Mississippi) mouth. 

Smash (three Mississippi) that (four Mississippi) palm (five Mississippi) 

good and hard (six Mississippi) 

against (seven Mississippi) your lips. 

Find a body (eight Mississippi) bigger (nine Mississippi) than (ten Mississippi) yours 

(eleven Mississippi)

and push (twelve Mississippi) (thirteen Mississippi) (fourteen Mississippi) yourself 

                        (fifteen Mississippi) down 

                                    (sixteen Mississippi) on 

                                                (seventeen Mississippi) the bed 

and turn (eighteen Mississippi) up (nineteen Mississippi) the (twenty Mississippi) music 

                                                            (twenty-one Mississippi) (twenty-two Mississippi) 

louder. 

Cover (twenty-three Mississippi) 

that (twenty-four Mississippi) 

mouth (twenty-five Mississippi). 

Push (twenty-five Mississippi) harder (twenty-six Mississippi). 

Now tear (twenty-seven Mississippi) at (twenty-eight Mississippi) your (twenty-nine Mississippi) clothes. 

(Thirty Mississippi)

Never (thirty-one Mississippi)             forget   (thirty-two Mississippi) 

there (thirty-three Mississippi) are (thirty-four Mississippi) two (thirty-five Mississippi) of (thirty-six Mississippi) them (thirty-seven Mississippi) 

twoofthemtwoofthemtwoofthemtwoofthem               in         the       room    with     you.

(Thirty-eight Mississippi). 

(Thirty-nine Mississippi). 

(Forty Mississippi).

Try (forty-one Mississippi) to (forty-two Mississippi) yell (forty-three Mississippi)

for (forty-four Mississippi) 

                        help. 

                                    Go on. 

Push (forty-five Mississippi) that (forty-six Mississippi) hand (forty-seven Mississippi) down (forty-eight Mississippi) hard (forty-nine Mississippi). 

Yank (fifty Mississippi) 

            at (fifty-one Mississippi) 

                        your (fifty-two Mississippi) 

                                    clothes (fifty-three Mississippi). 

Push (fifty-four Mississippi).

                                                            Yank (fifty-five Mississippi).

Push (fifty-six Mississippi).

                                                            Yank (fifty-seven Mississippi).

                                    

Can (fifty-eight Mississippi) you (fifty-nine Mississippi) still (sixty Mississippi) breathe? 

Good. 

That’s one. 

Now. 

Begin (one Mississippi)                      again.

This poem was first published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry in September 2018 and reprinted by permission of the author.  Jennifer Saunders is a poet currently living in German-speaking Switzerland. Her poetry and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Dunes Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, San Pedro River Review, Spillway, The Shallow Ends, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Self-Portrait with Housewife, was selected by Gail Wronsky as the winner of the 2017 Clockwise Chapbook contest and is forthcoming from Tebot Bach Press. Jennifer holds an MFA from Pacific University and in the winters she teaches skating at a hockey school.