How Many Does It Take To Burn A Teenage Girl?
for Nusrat Rafi
How many does it take to burn a teen-
age girl? Bangladesh, sixteen are sentenced
to die — as trial unfurls, new villains seen,
unsentenced, your tragedy. For instance,
the cop who leaked it to TV, victim
statement of what was done to you. Crime by
police, this time, you live through. Rigged systems
protecting patriarchy while you try
to hide a face you know they see. Tell
this officer, soon you’ll be dead. Just two
weeks later in a hospital bed, expel
appellations from expiring tissue,
eighty percent of you sixteen erased.
You die. He’s still a cop some other place.
Author’s Note:
This sonnet is from my manuscript The Stakes (forthcoming
from APEP 2020). The Stakes is a collection of poems about
fire being used as a tool of misogyny against women historically
and in contemporary times. It tells the story of two 19 year
old women in disparate parts of the world — Bangladesh and
Mississippi who both died in the last few years by being burned
alive. Nusrat Rafi, the subject of this poem, is the 19 year old
from Bangladesh. Sixteen people were sentenced to death for
burning her after she reported her principal of her school for
sexual harassment. The officer who leaked her recorded
victim statement to the media shortly before her death
was not sentenced for this illegal offense
just transferred.
Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of twelve books of poetry including Pink Plastic House (Maverick Duck Press), Candy Cigarette Womanchild Noir (The Hedgehog Poetry Press), the forthcoming Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press) and The Meadow (Apep Publications, 2020). Follow her on Twitter: (@lolaandjolie) and her website http://kristingarth.com