Slut
I have always had an affinity for words Ones that ask of you “Open your mouth wide And shout my syllables to the sky as if you are calling down thunderstorms.”
I have always loved these words The ones that twist your tongue Curl your lips Shatter your teeth
I remember the day I met the first word I did not like It hit me like a ton of bricks Not because of its complexities Not because of any melody it sang Or content it produced Rather its inherent being devoid of profundity
Rather the anger it stirred up in my chest when my father spat it at me When he sat across from me and let the four letters trickle from his lips like milk from his mother’s naked breast And that word, monosyllabic as it is, stepped on my toes
Crawled up my thighs Dug its talons in my arms Tore six foot gashes in my breasts And stomped craters where my eyes were
© Ama Akoto (2017)