Consent

Maybe doesn’t always mean a yes,

And we forgot what a NO meant a while ago. 

Consent isn’t an abstract concept

Neither is it a rhythmic piece of art

That taxes the weight of your cranium.

But, it is simply acceptance in your nescient mind. 

It’s not a bosom mantled with lust 

To be camouflaged with personifications of barren skin and trodden flowers.

But it’s the dignity of humans reduced to nothing more than a mere object. 

Consent is not when one speaks for two,

Holding the assumption of life being too short

To fiat to curst when an agreement has taken its mark

None to be blemished in reward.  

Your eyes peel off my respect,

Making them travel along with my slacks,

I am not a walking show. 

IT IS A NO.

Your words strip off my character,

Your sound consumes me off my flesh

I am not a bait to your hunger.

IT IS A NO. 

When you hold me, I feel like an earthquake within

Like an axe cutting through my bones. 

I’m not a piece to be manhandled.

IT IS A NO.

Your touch leaves thumbprints on my back, 

And handprints on my thighs.

I’m not a stone to embed your carvings.

IT IS A NO.

I am the tailor of my own confidence,

Ready with a cloth of my views.

And not the fiber of your suit, 

to hide under the sleeves of your strength.

I DO NOT CONSENT.

No minor can fight against,

So why would they be spared?

But let me tell you,

Their innocent souls aren't silent consenters, hi

For you to tear them open

To fulfill your need.

THEY DO NOT CONSENT

We are maidens of love and warmth, 

Goddesses of holiness and purity

Our eyes can sparkle your lives

And our hearts utter the safest spells.

Our Yes means the promise of forever,

Our yes means an oath of selflessness,

Our yes is the mouth to swallow your problems,

Our yes is a manifestation of dignity 

Our yes is for the sake of love 

And not just an empty book to be filled with stigmas and curses. 

So is it that difficult

To comprehend a No - to stop

And yes to just embrace the heart?