Dove Rebmann

No

Two simple letters

a little girl screams on the playground

because a little boy keeps pulling her hair

his friends notice but don’t stop it

her friends say

“If a boy teases you it means he likes you”

So the little girl is left

with a sore throat and a headache

and a very clear message

So when she’s 15

and a stranger of a boy is taking off her clothes

and this word burns the back of her throat like poison

how can we look at her and say

that she should have just said

“No”