What I Heard

i walked home briskly
dusk on the street
my nerves on edge

--crime in the neighborhood
muggings at night--

when the thud of footsteps
fell hard on the pavement behind me.

men, or boys in men's bodies,
pushed past, laughing,
leering, snorting.

i stepped off the path
out of their way
but the taller one knocked
my arm carelessly

just as his companion shouted
a word that froze in the air
one moment
--and fell on my ears--

a word slicing and wounding
pushing at that secret place
between my legs.

a woman is vulnerable
because of this word
historically whispered
or written on walls
cutting, scratching deeply

they ran forward, the boy men
forgetting me
still shaken
by 4 simple letters

the tall one threw an oblong thing
and i watched, dazed as it spiraled,
and the word came again from their mouths.

oh foolish me,
they just shouted, "punt!"