I wake to a knife
on the back of my neck,
a man's voice low
in my ear. What I am told to do,
I do. Still
the moon lights my room.
The freight of his chest
fixes me to the rough, wood floor.
His breath
brags down my throat
into my lungs, and I pray
for my soul.
I make of my body a bunker:
when he enters,
he does not touch me.
I am clean as rain.

Sondra Upham
Plymouth, MA

Rape is from Sondra's chapbook, Freight, winner of the 2000 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition.

“The horror and trauma of this moment redounds through the collection's pages. The poems are more than therapeutic writing; they are artful and bravely considered . . .”
Paul Zimmer, The Georgia Review, Fall 2002.

SONDRA UPHAM's poems have appeared in many journals, including, Field, Prairie Schooner, The New Virginia Review, and Phoebe. Freight was the winner of the 2000 Slapering Hol Chapbook Competition and was chosen by Marie Ponsot.