The Little Girls’ Room

White walls black
pen or knife etched
names and blame
curses and worse
fulminations
words I've never heard
uttered
but here they are
scrawled on the wall
for all we women to see
an education for men
required reading for
relationships
secret screams for help
with no prayer
silenced by experience
and whispered warnings
recipes for wreckage
with no repair or regrets
that rhyme with grace.
A matter of feet
a reach of inches squint
to make out the sense of
scribbled witticisms wise
cracks and wisdom all free
for the slide of a bolt.