Short On Writing And Wordsclass Poems

A Little Like Rape

A Little Like Rape

This sylph came forward 
from the second row
the second day of class 
and asked if
I would edit her poem 
so it would read 
the way it should. 

I told her straightaway
that even though 
this was writing class 
and I was the instructor,
I couldn’t edit her poem
and still have the poem be hers. 

Editing her poem, I said, 
would be a little like rape,
just painful in a different way
whether she understood that 
yet or not.  


Donal Mahoney