This poem was inspired by an article I read where a teenage girl was forced by a voodoo priest, his wife and another woman to engage in sexual acts. It has been speculated that up to 100 other teenagers may have been involved as well. This takes place in 1980; a voodoo priest named John H. Wilson who resides in Denver, Colorado was charged with sexual assault on a child, second degree sexual assault, and conspiracy. His wife and one of his followers were also arrested. Police confiscated hundreds of photographs of partially nude girls when they raided the house. They also found whips, boots, and other things relating to sexual acts. I wrote this poem from the point of view of the teenage girl. The reason why I chose this article is because it is not uncommon that people we would never suspect turn out to be the ones we cannot trust, like a priest for example. Many people would also probably not suspect another woman to engage in heinous acts like this.

Temple

I'm still trying to process what happened

As I see him standing before me, dressed all in black

I knew I had to testify to try to get my life back on track

Having to relive the trauma over and over again

I knew I wasn't the only one

I saw photographs of others

Why did it have to be me?

I thought I could trust them

They even helped out my family

Fed me when I needed it

I didn't know I could be faced with such betrayal

I hope this will all go away

References

NewsBank, Inc. Access World News. (November 26th, 1980). A Teenage Girl Testified Tuesday. Retrieved from https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=&sort=YMD_date%3AA&page=1&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=sexual%20assault&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=and&val-base-1=1865-1990&fld-base-1=YMD_date&docref=news/1554E25C2A0B2B18