April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. On Sunday, April 3rd at 6 PM, survivors of sexual violence and supporters of spreading awareness are gathering in the Lown Room in the Memorial Union to share experiences in a safe, non-mandatory reporting space. This event is put on by UMO Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the UMO Feminist Collective. This event is an opportunity to stand against the patterns of sexual assault and violence that have been occurring on our campus.
I have included a personal poem that I wrote when in a time and place where an event such as “Take Back The Night” would have been life-changing to attend. Sometimes survivors just need to be heard. The power of this event is that it helps victims process and reclaim their trauma as their story and their control, not their abusers. This poem indicates the feeling of the loss of power that sexual violence can have on survivors. Please read mindfully.
Once upon a time, I was organic
Purely natural and prospering on my own
No scientist had lacerated me and no chemicals had polluted me
But you were the pesticide that disintegrated my bones
I was a healthy crop in a poisoned field
But the toxins found their way to my roots
Watching you spray the venom, your eyes were no longer familiar to mine
Because you were the killer in the herbicide scented boots
You contaminated me, you infected me, you terminated me;
All for your own benefit; all for your own success
The massacre was relentless; my ammunition was nonexistent
With all your brutality, my seeds now have no resourceful content left
By man I was no longer untainted
You were the hands that scotched my innocence
Now I am toxic and burdened with each whistling breath
My aseptic self is irretrievable; the damage done is too dense
Chlorophyll rots inside the veins of my leaves
Photosynthesis has become a struggling task
Shriveling into crumpled foliage,
Your ruthless liquid has proven to remove all pests
Formerly thriving and green,
But now I am scorched and brown
Crispy like a fire had burned me dry
Dying like men had ripped my roots from the ground
– Pesticide
If you are in need of help from sexual or dating violence, Partners for Peace is an active resource for members of our community. Partners for Peace also offers a 24 hour hotline at this number: 1-800-863-9909.