My work in the November 2019 Men-Only Issue of #FemkuMag

by

John J. Dunphy

While I ordinarily express disdain for trigger warnings/content notes, this piece merits a word of caution. These senyru are raw. If you are squeamish and easily offended, exit out NOW. Those of you who are familiar with my work will recognize these poems as similar to the poems I had published in the now-defunct RAW NerVZ HAIKU back in the 1990s and early years of this century. The part of me that writes such volatile poems had been in hibernation for some years. It awakened when the editor of #FemkuMag gave me the opportunity to submit poems dealing with these topics.

My life has made me identify with the brutalized, broken persons in these poems. My life has also made me hate those who victimize others. I value empathy and compassion and have always tried to incorporate them in my words and actions. But I’ll be the first to admit that I suck at forgiveness.

priest’s study

holy water

sprinkled on the dick

thrust into

an altar boy’s mouth

***

principal’s office

nun tightens the rosary she wound

around the child’s genitals

***

prison shower room floor

the new convict

unconscious and bleeding

***

prison cell

convict tattoos his initials

on his bitch’s butt

John J. Dunphy’s collections of poetry include Old Soldiers Fading Away, Zen Koanhead, Touching Each Tree, pagan rites, Stellar Possibilities and Dark Nebulae. Like everyone else, he’s on Facebook.