Poetry by Melissa Sussens

            ​strahovi CC



In a Post-Gender-Based-Violence World of Survivors

The word NO has no alternate definitions, 
interpretation not up to the listener.
I do not spare my no
to the man at the market. 

Here, our braless smiles
reach our eyes.
There are fists
filled with flowers,

our throats choked 
in glittering trinkets.
Day and night are equals
not only in streetlight                     islands              of safety

but in the dark corners
now wandered                                   alone.
Love is still a risk to the heart
but there is no violent  t h u m p i n g.

Bruise is a colour
of eyeshadow 
we wear for a night out.
Dressed as survival,

we are all dancing --
an awe of women
in crop tops, miniskirts and heels
or in hoodies and sweatpants.

Our bodies are not welcome 
mats; men ask permission to enter,
here. Little girls make it
home from school. 
              We grow old.

​

Melissa Sussens (she/her) is a queer South African veterinarian and poet. Her work has appeared in Germ Magazine, Ja. Magazine, Odd Magazine and The Sock Drawer, among others. She is a small animal vet by day and by night a poet and editor assisting Megan Falley with her Poem's That Don't Suck online writing courses. She lives in Cape Town with her girlfriend and their two dogs.

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