Her Voice: A Letter to My Rapist

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the Her Campus NCSU team would like to give

their support to each collegiette™ who has been victim to sexual assault.

 

I wrote this poem this past winter, two years after my assault. It’s the poem that inspired the HerVoice blog and the poem that brought my love for writing back into my life. It’s the poem that I hope will encourage all survivors of sexual assault to find strength through their experiences and forgiveness within their past.

 

“A Letter to My Rapist”
by Kara Schmieg

 

Its five o’clock and I can’t sleep

A letter to my rapist is all I can think

I don’t know where I’m going with this quite yet,

But I know I’ll find the words that will fill this set

I close my eyes and let my fingers type

It’s the only way that feels right

“Try to relax, let your mind be free,”

It just seems to be so very hard for me

One deep breath in and one long one out

I’ll let the words come out of my mouth

A letter to my rapist is all I can think

What would I say, what do I think?

I want to give it a try – maybe it will help?

I will feel better, I have no doubt

But where do I start? How do I begin?

When a letter to my rapist, should never have to be written

But hear me out, when I say this

I’ll say what I need in order to fix this

I want so bad to be set free

So a letter to my rapist is in need

One long pause, I need to stop and think

Gather my thoughts, let them sink

What comes next? I cannot say,

A letter to my rapist is all I can think

 

If you or anyone you know on campus, is or has, been sexually assaulted visit: http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_affairs/womens_center/