So we’re sitting
and debating
raiding the liquor cabinet.
Cointreau, ice and water
ran out of juice
too many drinks
too many stories
he said/she said
reading alibis
making innuendos
media coverage
sex scandals
was it consensual?
She wanted it/ she didn’t want it
because if she liked it
and went back for more
then who are we to
say
judge
the score.

Then the rape scene
nausea, so obscene
the teddy bear
and soon all this
on SNL
to mock the man who fell.
But you know he’ll come back more popular, she says
even move to the States,
look at OJ
Allen, Cosby,
the list goes on
life continues
like nothing is wrong
with raping women
we just move right along.

Until another woman speaks up
we pass it around like the Holy Grail cup,
soon he’ll write a book
make a movie,
no end to the insanity
the mass consumption
of mixed values
lost childhoods
and dollar signs.

And the women, always the ones to get burned,

from the beginning of time
or the ones
to blame,
playing the game.

Debate never ends
as each new story
makes the rule bend.

And sometimes, I know, I’m not dumb
it’s the women that start the drum
or end it

But the men
have that strength
to the beat
and the past
creates the future
the discussion can never last
or truly end.