Lot's Wife Edition 3 2021

Lot’s Wife • Edition Three
Lot’s Wife • Edition Three
T
o
r
n
Words by Maiysha Moin
Content warning: sexual
assault, violence, mental
health, grief
This piece was inspired by
the Four Corners coverage
of the sexual assault
allegations against former
Attorney-General, Christian
Porter. Kate, the anonymous
woman allegedly raped
by Porter, was a young
woman of sharp intellect
and a bright future ahead of
her. This seemingly pivotal
moment in her adolescence
shaped the many years
following and defused
the light of her highly
anticipated future.
I know the way they look at me:
as though the hem of my life,
spun delicately across two decades,
has been caught on the edge
of a sharp shard in time.
The catch slows my march;
footsteps heavy, shoulders hunched.
With force, I attempt to gallop
but the snared edge splits –
tearing –
long and wide.
A chasmic void in the fabric of my well-spun adolescence;
darkness amidst the variegated embellishments.
I once gleamed with success:
young, bright-eyed, ambitious, they said.
But in a single sacrilegious moment
I was torn.
For your sparkling triumph
of collecting another little death,
my flames were extinguished.
Through the gash
the melancholia clambers in,
wrapping around the limbs and
pulling me under into the murk of depression.
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Art by Joshua Nai