The Rape Kit

Poetry. Women's Studies. As her perp comes up for parole, witness tw recalls the objects he brought to the assault. She tracks rape as a signature crime of US history and Western Civ and tests the (often underwater) escape routes offered by sources personal, mythic, and geologic. Whatever else can be said of her attempts, she joins a hyphenated line of women who must angle through and over their own raped bodies to note what lies down with the language of violence. In the process she assembles her own rape kit/ evidence bag, climbs through various holes in the text, and names some perps.