I like to walk alone at night
On beaches and through forests and
around underground parking lots.
Without keys clutched between my fingers.

I don't need to defend myself from the man in the shadows.
I am not afraid
Because there is no man in the shadows.

There are men
Telling lies in well-lit rooms
Touching thigh under candlelight
Grabbing breast beneath fluorescents
Smiling in the sun.

I used to be soft.
But I was pinched
and poked
and burned into hard metal.

I am a bullet escaping a gun.
I will shatter, I will explode
into so many pieces that
my dust will rest in the air.
And you won't catch me.

I am a knife.
I will cut into skin and reach through muscle
Lick the blood from my handle
It will burn your mouth.

I will break myself.
But first
I will destroy you.