The Disappearing Woman

By Leah Horlick

With her new magic, she makes you
invisible.

With her new magic, she makes you
invisible.

The women with black eyes
do not see you, in your bare

sleeves, your tired, unmarked face.
The women with black eyes

can say doorknob. Can say staircase
and fell down.

She doesn’t give you black eyes, and
the doctors do not see her, not in your

long hair, your good earrings, in your quiet
descriptions of pain. They would say

boyfriend. They would see husband. She
does not give you black eyes,

she is not your husband, and you do not
say anything.

Leah Horlick is a poet from Saskatoon, Treaty Six Cree Territory. Her most recent book, For Your Own Good (Caitlin Press, 2015), was named a Stonewall Honour Title in Literature by the American Library Association. In 2016, she was awarded the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBT Writers. She has written widely about the issue of sexual violence in the queer community. This poem originally appeared in For Your Own Good (Caitlin Press, 2015) and is republished here as part of the No Comment project.

More Writing from the No Comment Project

No Comment by Alessandra Naccarato
Erase and Rewind by Meghan Bell
White house, where some family lived upstairs by Chelene Knight
Loyalty and Violence by Ruth Daniell
Burning Bridges by Joelle Barron
Penknife by Ellie Sawatzky
for play by Kayla Czaga
back, cover by Elaine Corden
Sex Work Solidarity as Healing by Amber Dawn
I Was Once That Girl by Jen Sookfong Lee
On Receiving Bad News by Mallory Tater
The Disappearing Woman by Leah Horlick
Boys Will Be Boys by Dina Del Bucchia
Nicomekl River by Claire Matthews
Knowing Better by Anonymous
Monster by Mikiko Galpin
Reframing the Montréal Massacre by Maureen Bradley
Testimony, Part X by Anonymous
Broken Heart Emoji, Crystal Ball Emoji, Stars Emoji by Kyla Jamieson
Bits by Carleigh Baker
Metamorphosis 6: 401-674: A Paraphrase in Still Pictures by Annick MacAskill
black pearls by Jónína Kirton
Not Yet by Juliane Okot Bitek
Sei Turni (6 spells for #CanLit) by Amber Dawn

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