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Reading: Shawn Aveningo Sanders: What She Was Wearing
January 8, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
FreeAnnie Bloom’s welcomes Portland poet Shawn Aveningo Sanders to read from What She Was Wearing.
How long can you keep a dark secret before you become completely unraveled? In What She Was Wearing, Sanders uses poetry, prose, and letters to tell her #MeToo story—one that has taken over 30 years to reveal.
In this collection, Shawn shares her nightmare of being raped at a fraternity toga party, and examines the event from a variety of perspectives, including poems written from the viewpoint of her attackers; the toga she was wearing; homecoming years later; and even the moment she told her college-aged children. As Shawn’s story unfolds, the reader will come to understand how significant the aftermath of rape can be. For decades, she was “triggered” in the most unexpected ways and is just now recognizing how those triggers impacted her self-worth.
Inspired by the countless number of women who are bravely opening up to share their truth, she adds her voice to the fight against the oppressive, misogynic times we live in. It’s time to stop blaming the victim and to stop asking what she was wearing! For Shawn, writing through the pain and sharing these poems has proven to be cathartic and even epiphanic at times. It is her hope this work can help women of all ages face and cope with their own traumas, while letting them know they can indeed heal and go on to enjoy loving, trusting relationships.