written by Wini Hannigan. Wini is an emerging poet from Tipperary with a passion for social justice, mental health and mental growth. She does her best to reflect these themes in her work. Her ambition is to write a trauma informed poetry book. A book of raw and honest poetry. At present, she shares most of her work through open mic nights and local writing projects.
I always declare that someone
Somewhere, should speak about
Something, sort of, maybe taboo
Like how when I was five
I believed my body wasn’t mine
When I was seven, I was told
What a woman wants
At age fourteen I met him
The third person who came
And felled the trees of my fortress
I grew older and hated more
Furious at this vessel of mine
At age nineteen, I was asked
What I was wearing, by a solicitor
Sixty-year-old male, fourteen-year-old female
But let’s focus on my outfit
Someone should really speak
Speak about how we suffer once
At their hands
Then again as our minds punish us
Berate us for allowing the man
The person, the perpetrator,
To mould us like clay
I’d like to tell you about shame
It didn’t belong to me
But boy did I claim it
I scrubbed my eight-year-old body
Until it bled beneath my vigour
I hid behind my books
Until I hid behind alcohol
Until I hid behind razors
While they walked, they walked free
Death claimed two of the devils
Even this did not liberate my mind
They break free from their slumber
To haunt my mind, my dreams
Dates on the calendar are reminders
Places carry the weight of your ghost
Someone should really talk about this
Maybe someone just did.
Image: The Other Side by Delphine Arnault. Delphine is an artist from France but based in Ireland since 2003. After studying Art in College in France, Delphine has had exhibitions in Cork, worked as an illustrator for Cork City Council, and has also worked with publishers in Ireland. Delphine is currently planning a solo show exhibiting all her new work in the near future.
