checklist

[[ After reading https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/01/07/on-being-a-woman-in-america-while-trying-to-avoid-being-assaulted/ in the Paris Review and various other things. ]] 

they might chuckle 

when girls go together

they might whistle

when girls go alone

they might follow

when a girl goes home

you check the checklist

you laugh to yourself

you know it's crazy

till you see it in the news

you have to wonder

will he slip me

a pill in my drink?

you have to wonder

will he rape me

when I can't think?

you have to wonder

will he stalk me?

will I be beaten?

you have to wonder

will he carve me 

will I be eaten?

you check the checklist

you laugh to yourself

you know it's crazy

till you see it in the news

you have to wonder

will he dump me 

out in the park?

you have to wonder

will they find me 

dead in the dark? 

you have to wonder

what will it be?

what will it be?

you have to wonder

will it be me?

will it be me?

you check the checklist

you laugh to yourself

you know it's crazy

till you see it in the news

keep off the street

keys in your fist

lock up the car 

and drive like hell

Bang

Bang.

Remember me?
I'm the girl next door

I'm the girl you want
I'm the girl you want to

Bang.

I'm a girl you used
I'm a girl you used to

Bang.

Know how it is
Know how it is

Know how it is

I was born dead, baby.
Or I died of disease
I was carried off by lions
Or I was left out to freeze

Bang.

I was raped at twelve
a mother at thirteen
I was bred again at fourteen
and a corpse at fifteen

Bang.

Know how it is
Know how it is

Know how it is

Or I was married off early
to some man from the town
I met him when I wed him.
They had to tie me down.

Bang.

Or I was sent to the kitchen,
or the cellar, the attic,
I was banged in them all
till I hanged myself out back

Bang.

Know how it is
Know how it is

Know how it is

I was sent to the factory,
or warehouse or workhouse
I ran off one night for
asylum in the whorehouse

Bang.

I was beaten to death
for my terrible crime
but not till the bastards
banged me one last time

Bang.

Know how it is
Know how it is

Know how it is

I am
the dust
you breathe in,
you breathe out
every day.

I am
your family
confession
written in
your DNA.

you don't know how it is
I hardly know
I hardly know myself

You don't know how it is
Know how it is
Know how it is

Know how it is

Bang.

[[ There is no coherent narrative intended. It's not about one girl, so details of the story differ. The girl in one line dies one way and dies another way in another line. It's a series of images. If it was a video, you'd see different scenes, different girls, different ages, different eras, different circumstances, but always girls being mistreated. "I'm Every Woman" being abused, married off, enslaved, beaten, raped, killed. Maybe that last bang is her putting a bullet in someone. ]]