Maya Santos
Walking along the brick cobblestone,
A community of women: mother, daughter, cousin, carry on
Laughing and chatting as they walk toward the store
When something shifts terribly, the laughing is no more
A silent understanding and a quickening of pace
I look at my cousin and see the unease in her face
As we continue on in silence to get to our location
I look around me wondering,
What has caused this occasion?
Up ahead I see them, with big lustful eyes
The men sit on the sidewalk, eyeing up their prize
With a jaw hard-set and the women walking closer
The silence is deafening,
you’ll understand when you’re older.
Passing them now, all conversation has stopped
Can we begin talking? Something tells me we cannot.
I didn’t like the feeling of their eyes on our backs
A feeling that lingered though the time
had already passed
I didn’t like the idea that we would have to keep walking,
tongue in cheek,
If they decided to begin talking.
I didn’t like the feeling that my safety relied
On the hope that these men were a couple good guys
Perhaps, the worst feeling, at the end of the day,
Was knowing this wouldn’t be the last
I felt as though
I was prey
Maya is currently an English and Education major at Moravian University who grew up part of the Lehigh Valley community.
- SLV 2023 Table of Contents
- Voices of the Valley – Alphabetic List of Authors
- Sustainable Lehigh Valley booklet
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