Jason L. Huskey

Our Once And Future Enemy

Some thought it a coincidence—

how Samira always hung around

and happened to let her friends

get raped. Her plan to persuade

a bruised peach to poison the world.

Eighty women forced at knifepoint

to feel every inch, every tear,

every heartbeat thrust into madness—

until it's one afternoon, one school,

one bus full of children heading home

to meet daya and bav with hugs—

how their breaths never suspect

the flash of coerced flesh.

How their eyes don't even blink.