We often think of #MeToo as a movement for female survivors of sexual assault.  This defiant and courageous #MeToo poem by the brilliant poet Robert Chancey shines a bright spotlight on the perpetrator who molested him 43 years ago and had the audacity to come back into Mr. Chancey’s life expecting a friendly reunion.  Oh, hell to the no!

VAMPIRE IN DUDE’S CLOTHING

by Robert Chancey

PART I

You reached out

To an old victim

With your polished fangs

Your grave handshake

And your blank-slate conscience

Sure of your charm

And your magnificence

Like an aging dictator

Weighted with medals

But floating free

Of your bedroom crimes

On the myopic waves

Of middle-aged amnesty

PART II

But

I never forgot

The acidic words

Of the neighborhood bully

The imperious truncheon

Of your hacksaw voice

Mocking

My puny muscles

My four-eyed frailty

And my gentle aspirations

To encourage kindness

To blossom

On our caustic schoolyard

PART III

And

I can still taste

The bitter slug

Of your cock

In my mouth

You demanding

That I please

Your confused manhood

No matter

My countless refusals

In the remote bedroom

Of my empty house

On a bleak summer day

PART IV

I remember

And will never forgive

Because

Boys are stupid beasts

Who should

Be neutered

Or quarantined

PART V

This cyber palace

Is not

A kennel

Where any stray

Can stain

My mahogany floors

With their

Lingering scent

Of haughtiness

And dog piss

PART VI

No

We cannot be

Friends

In the shallow home

Of my

Public me

Nor

In the warm spaces

Of my private sanctuary

Where words

Fashion a gaudy architecture

From the curvature

Of my fading dreams

And the toxic quicksilver

Of my organic memories

Robert Chancey is a full-time waiter who writes poetry in his off hours.  His Facebook page Words on Fire features over 200 of his brilliant and very popular poems from 2017 and 2018.  You can also watch over two dozen videos of his poetry readings on his Words on Fire Facebook page.

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“Breath of a Salesman” by Robert Chancey