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He Called Them "Love Marks"

[CW: SA] A poem about a day that is supposed to represent love, that unfortunately represents trauma.

Tatum Oxford

Feb 12, 2021

Millennials of Michigan

343

Photo by Nicolas Postiglioni

[CW: Sexual Assault (SA)]

He called them "love marks",
The marks that i stared at in the mirror when I awoke.

He called them "love marks",
Except when my sorority sister asked me what I had been up to all night after seeing the marks, I had no recollection.

He called them "love marks" even though they were left on an unconscious body.
But how does love exist where and when consent doesn't?

I think the nurse who saw me in the ER on Valentine's Day assumed they were "love marks" too.
She kindly joked about the marks on my neck, as she performed my pelvic exam.

So I do my makeup and go on with my day, because I could make myself repress it all... Right?

He called them "love marks",
But people like Him don't know what love is.

People that leave "love marks" only truly love control.

So when He found himself in bed with an unconscious woman,
It probably did feel like Valentine's Day luck to him.

He called them "love marks",
While I cried on the bathroom floor a week later, calling my RA with the realization that I had been raped.

He called them "love marks",
I call them the product of a rape.

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He Called Them "Love Marks"

[CW: SA] A poem about a day that is supposed to represent love, that unfortunately represents trauma.

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This isn't just for the single Pringles out there either, folks

Run Around Clanging Pots and Pans in Everyone's Face

Eat the Last Few Pigs in a Blanket

Pop Twelve White Grapes

Burn Something

Smash Things Against a Wall

Spontaneously Begin an Irish Jig

Call Your Mother

Throw a Coffee Table Out a Window

Sing "Auld Lang Syne" at the Top of Your Lungs

Do Some Squats

Swan Dive into a Nearly Freezing Body of Water

Take a Shot

Time to be merry and bright.

"First Noel" by Leslie Odom, Jr

"A Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Kelly Clarkson

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home" by Michael Buble

"Last Christmas" by Taylor Swift

"The Christmas Song" by Josh Groban

"White Christmas" by Idina Menzel

"O Holy Night" by David Archuleta

"Believe" by Josh Groban

"Les cloches du hameau" by Celine Dion

Or at least try to do.

1. I will wake up (sorta) on time for class.

2. I will look decent for class.

3. I will go to the gym more.

4. I will go to the library and study more.

5. I will meet new people.

For those long nights that turn into mornings when the struggle is real.

1. Walk in motivated and ready to rock

2. Disappointed you let it get this bad

3. Distracted: When a 10-Minute Break Becomes an Hour

4. When the Yearning for Sleep Sneaks Up

5. In the words of Lorelai Gilmore "Coffee, Coffee, Coffee"

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