Trigger-happy | Ashna Saxena

THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

I fuck myself to trigger myself

Two fingers in my unwilling hole

My body screams in protest

But my mind doesn’t listen

Just like they didn’t listen

Or maybe I didn’t say anything

Did I? Did I say no?

Did I fight?

A fine gossamer film veils my memories

They merge and distort

A hand on my head, a hand on my back

A dick on my face, a dick in my mouth

A hand on my hand, my hand on a dick?

Did I fight?

Not enough,

Not.

Enough.

I get fucked to trigger myself

To be pushed back into that place

Push me into the mattress

A firm grip on the back of my neck

While I stare at nothing in particular

Floating away from the moment

Floating away, yet confined to my head

By the memories playing on loop somewhere

in the dark, nigh forgotten crevices of my head

The ghosts of their hands haunt me still.

My body craves brutality

Slap

Choke

Fuck

Rape?

My body craves brutality

Take away my autonomy

Make me less than half the human I am

Make me an object of your pleasure

My body craves brutality

Slap

Choke

Fuck

Rape.

I’m tired of betraying myself

I’m tired of violating myself

I’m tired of myself

I’m tired.

The truth is

I am sick

in the head

My pain is their pleasure

A twisted paradise

My pain is my panacea

My passing, my end.