Measures and mitigations

To be a woman
Is to know fear
Insidious
It alters how you speak
How you walk
What you hear
As if by simply being
You are poking the bear


Climbing stairs
You scan the periphery
Is there a man behind you?
Should you have taken the elevator?
You imagine it as a race
Legs driving you up
Away
Hoping he chooses a lower floor
As he watches you recede
There is a button
At the top
PUSH FOR HELP
Please don't make me need it
Please let it work if I do


It is only eight o'clock
You are two blocks from home
You've had dinner with a friend
She says she will walk you home
Because you don't have mace
And she does
It's such a small town
You think
Everybody knows me
But there is what if
Gnawing at the back of your mind
And you let her


You are a statistic
Waiting to happen
You may have happened already
You might again
Can you admit the trespasses?
The stranger slapping your ass
The man blocking your way on the sidewalk
Hey girl
The best friend who held you down and
No
His parents came home
Doesn't count
The measures and mitigations
Of boil versus simmer