SUBSTITUTION

                    by Monet Patrice Thomas 

​I let myself be
a vessel. No longer
human. A body can be
anything we say it is.
In the dark,
he couldn't see my face,
nothing to define me
as me. I could be
whatever he wanted
to lay hands on.
He never hurt me
on purpose, the bruises
my own fault. Sometimes
I forgot to be empty,
a thing to fill.





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Monet Patrice Thomas is a poet and writer recently returned from living abroad in Beijing, China. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, Washington. More of her poetry and other writing can be found online & in print, or you can check out her website: www.monetpatricethomas.com. The writer herself can be found online on Twitter: @monetwithlove.