Two Poems by Tara Temprano

Tara Temprano

Tara Temprano is a 47-year-old woman living in New Jersey as an educator of young children. Her experience with sexual assault spans a few circumstances and poetry has served her well as an outlet to address the assaults, harassment, and abuse that she endured in her twenties and thirties. The five poems selected have not been published in any way. Her substack, named “Poetry and Artifacts,” publishes poems weekly as well as “Artifact Journaling,” which combines the notion of junk journaling with evocative journaling by gluing or taping down artifacts from places one has traveled, and using them as a springboard by answering three key questions: Where were you and what were you doing in that moment? What was your favorite part? Why is this a moment you will always remember?

As a survivor of sexual assaults, harassment and abuse, Tara understands the complexity with which it takes to survive and eventually thrive. Each day remains a struggle and poetry and several therapists save her life. She hopes these poems will resonate with other survivors.

Choking on Your Pride and Joy

I am

sick and tired

Of picturing the heinous acts,

Blurry from poison

Crawling on the

Ugly hunter green rug.

I am

Sad and scared

Of swallowing the shame,

Choking on your

Pride and joy,

Attempting to fend off

Both of you.

You are

The boil on the

Toe of a football player

Trapped in the locker room.

“We’ll know if you tell.”

Echoes in the halls

Of the Oxford University

Living in my head.

Screams blare

Like rifts of heavy metal

Only to reveal

A strength earned

The Sound That Never Came

I wanted to scream,

but no noise escaped my mouth.

My vocal cords,

strangled by fear,

sent silent tremors through my body,

The sound swelled inside me,

rising from my stomach,

climbing the summit

of my twenty-something frame-

but it never broke free.

My heart pounded like a war drum,

each beat a desperate signal,

echoing in my ears.

“Stop! Please stop!”

My mind screamed,

but the words were prisoners

trapped behind my teeth.

The world stuttered, paused mid-motion,

a wave of numbness drowning me whole.

I wanted to scream,

but silence smothered my throat.

Their cold pools of evil

sparkled gleefully,

gorging on my stillness.

They chuckled,

toyed with the weight of my limp body,

studied the art of broken things.

Conquest.

Subjugation.

Domination

A vivacious woman,

reduced to something they could claim.