Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

‘They tell you about love and romance, and then the first thing you see is this huge purple thing.’ - Disillusioned girl, quoted in article on Rape by Katharine Whitehorn, The Observer, 1st June 1975.

        That dubious They
means teachers - not seducers in the hay,
        presumably,
sweet-talkers with one hand above the knee.
        Those magazines
that tell of love and husbands, with such scenes
        censored right out -
they cause some trouble, there can be no doubt.
        Romantic songs
feature a world all right, without such wrongs;
        and everything
that tells girls happiness lies in a ring,
        religions, too,
prepare with ignorance of what is blue,
        rustic and worse,
and bring their own particular kind of curse.

        Hear Virtue’s yelp!
But crying “Wicked!” doesn’t really help.
        The growing boys
see girls as objects, not much more than toys;
        experiment
belongs to youth, as hops belong to Kent.
        And circumstance
alters each case, a man who takes his chance
        need not be bad;
an untouched girl can end up very sad.
        While Nature too
has put a Life Force into me and you
        that has no use
for morals either (this is no excuse,
        but does explain) -
though one quick pleasure causes so much pain.

        Mind-readers grow
after a time instinctively to know,
        one must suppose,
which girls, and when, want to take off their clothes;
        being roughly wooed
some find enjoyable as well as crude.
        What is offence
to one could be another’s commonsense -
        don’t get me wrong,
I’m certainly not bursting into song
        in praise of rape,
so brutal in its every form or shape.
        I sympathise
with that sour girl; the sight that met her eyes
        could cause alarm
to unbriefed virgins - but for some has charm.

        Illusions can’t
keep out experience, a maiden aunt
        Life never was.
But nor can Reason, with its wise “because”
        soften the blow
entirely; yet it’s surely best to know
        what to expect?
Erectile tissue loves to stand erect
        (in women too),
it shouldn’t come at you out of the blue.
        Someone should tell,
before the scuffling and that outraged yell;
        an educated guess
as to which man thinks No’s a disguised Yes
        can’t come amiss.

To save us all from articles like this.