Poetry: “Poem In Which I Was Never Raped” by Dustin Brookshire
Poem In Which I Was Never Raped
after Denise Duhamel
I’m an unusually happy person. The kind that makes people say, It has to be an act, or Give me whatever he is taking. I spend nights on a sugar bender, drinking lemonade made from my grandmother’s recipe. I create TikTok videos of DIY crafting projects. I learned how to play tennis but ditch it for pickleball— my knees thank me, but totally happy, still unusually happy. I embrace gay culture of loving Show Girls. I quote Nomi’s epic faux pas, It’s Versayce. I joke of tossing marbles in the path of anyone in my way. I still use money for therapy— all those pesky mommy issues alive and well. The only nightmares I have come from my obsession with horror movies. I still post my quarterly PSA on Facebook and Twitter: When are rape jokes funny? NEVER! It doesn’t hurt when I look at my friend— the one that never had the occasion to ask, Yeah, but are you sure you said no?
About Dustin Brookshire
Dustin Brookshire's (he/him) chapbooks include Never Picked First For Playtime (Harbor Editions, 2023), Love Most Of You Too (Harbor Editions, 2021), and To The One Who Raped Me (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012). Dustin is the co-editor of Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology (Madville Publishing, 2023), and the editor of the forthcoming chapbook anthology, When I Was Straight: A Maureen Seaton Tribute (Harbor Anthologies). More at dustinbrookshire.com.
