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Spartaca

Pippa Little

in the room/ in the street/ on the stair/ where some men make free
in plain sight or in secret as if we were sweetmeat/ to dip
fingers in and then forget – it is the being alone
afterwards that numbs and maims, utterly
alone in the silence of it/ where shame creeps in/
stuns dead/ but now we rise, all women
fondled and hurt and licked in acid jokery and in hate,
pets, sweethearts, loves, darlings, humourless bitches –
we stand together, each one a Spartaca
no longer silent or alone: each voice stronger,
massing, alive, a wild murmuration
of me too/ me too/ me too

Spartacus was a rebel slave hunted down by the Romans to
be crucified. Asked to identify himself by soldiers, everyone in the
crowd around him stepped forward and said ‘I am Spartacus’.


Pippa Little

‘Spartica’ appears in #MeToo: A women’s poetry anthology (Fair Acre Press, 2018), edited by Deborah Alma.

Poem reproduced by kind permission of the author.

Tags:

abuse feminism me too women
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Pippa Little

Pippa Little was born in Tanzania, raised in Scotland and now lives in Northumberland.
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