A “mere allegation” shatters and destroys lives, says the president.
His “mere” echoes deeper.
An allegation of mere domestic violence
An alleged history of mere sexual impropriety
shatters and destroys the perpetrator’s life.
His “mere” rings deeper still
An allegation by a mere woman
shatters and destroys a man’s life.
Ah, there’s the rub.
Not the unwelcome rub of male hands on female genitals
Not the rub of junk against unsmiling cheeks.
No, that rub is just the way things are.
locker room talk lived out
by boys being men, or men being boys
and who dares allege that they should not be?
There’s no rub there
No rub that matters
The process of that rub gives everyone their due
if women are mere,
with lives and careers not to be lamented
when they are shattered or destroyed
wounded or splintered.
and experiences not to be voiced
nor examined
nor trusted.
Better not risk voice nor examination nor trust.
Better shame and silence us mere women, call us liars
lest male lives be uprooted
lest a president’s façade be wrecked
Which could happen if there were such a thing
as the overdue process of recovery and justice
in which mere women and mere men
might become partners
who can touch and tell and trust
one another
with their lives and careers.
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