The Myth of Cassandra
Untitled | Molly Sylvester | Photograph
The Myth of Cassandra by Iris Ghorbani
to be seen and not heard
till you’re heard but not seen
not even a teen
but no one believed
it’s
Don't spoil our fun
Don’t ruin its future
Don’t show me your pain
Don’t rat my abuser
Go cover your scars and
In sync laugh along,
Be polite and have grace
(But not too in-your-face
Lest it be misconstrued)
And well in that case
Then that is on you
For leading its chase
And don’t come to me when you didn’t say no
When you didn’t fight back
When it took you too slow
To get
What happened to you was so low
And we’ll
Always believe till you’re too young to know
Till they’re in honor roll
Till it’s simply a gag
And you just do not get it
Ignored all the flags
My god
Oh shoot
Why didn’t you tell me
When loose lips sink ships
And the enemy’s listening
Cause words are just words
And action’s a crime
If it ticks off those boxes you should be just fine
We’ll guarantee justice but there is a fine
For using your words just a smidge out of line
cause when I scream in my head
and bleed from my eyes
and fail to forget
cassandra is mine
and me and i’m her
and she’s roaring a warning
but they cover their ears
and troy is past burning
i’m learning
that maybe the man that I see
when I gaze in the mirror
who's staring at me
it’s closing the door behind it at gym
it’s making me think of how I repay him
it’s feeding me poison to do what it wants
it’s calling me names waiting for a response
i stop
i breathe and wonder why
it is “believe women” but there’s always a fine
print and
“women” must be trustworthy
they must speak with grandeur can’t be too dirty
these “women” must talk with a perfect rendition
must cry and must march and must write those petitions
cause “women,” you see, well they need a case
you can’t just go ‘round, reputations erased
cassandra was born 1250BC
before inkwells and cameras and male guilty pleas
she lived in an era of morphing to stone
of slithering locks and not saying no
yet she lingers today, mute as she’s been
within all of us, her story common
to abolish her curse we must stoop to their level
do her like they’ve done before
to raze her hex, to vanquish the devil
we turn off the lights, shut the door
we inch closer to her, and draw our blades tight
promising her it’s alright
and truly against our ideal prefer
We take a deep breath
And we kill her.