By Brett Anderson

‘the gender be violenced’

he says, as he drops another beat

and works his way to another hit song

pen dipped in blood

letters flowing

people knowing

that this monster lurking in the background

is just another cause upon his lips

before he heads home and takes out his frustration

on his partner when the numbers don’t add up

in quite the way he was hoping

violence that shatters hopes and dreams

as it breaks jaws and seems

to not see the image of God

it is raining down upon

has been carefully broken down

to these three letters

to make it flow a little easier from our lips

because if we’re not saying Violence

then maybe we don’t have to

look it in the eyes

or see it under the fingernails

of those who sit next to us

feasting and laughing

as they spew another surface-level tale

while the evil lurks beneath

and behind the make-up

and awkwardly rehearsed excuses

“Clumsy me!” she whispers.

and if we’re not naming Gender

then perhaps that allows me to escape a little

and retreat behind the walls of Not All Men

cos maybe it’s enough that i have never hit a woman

because I have been too busy laughing

at the jokes around the fire

and the reduction of women

to words my mother would violence me

if she ever saw them come out of my mouth

if we refuse to speak it out loud with conviction

how will we ever hope to chase this monster away?

‘the g be v’

he says, as he drops another beat

and works his way to yet another hit song

pen dipped in blood

letters flowing

people owing