Threadbare

<p><i>Threadbare</i> is about witnessing and experiencing sexual violence against women from a young age, and how, despite unravelling, we manage, time and time again, to stitch ourselves back together. This pamphlet is a crucial contribution to the ongoing conversation about sexual violence and the nature of victimhood brought into the limelight by the #MeToo movement.<br><br>The collection is broken into two parts - each beautifully demarcated with hand-drawn illustrations from the author. Part I sees the speaker witness sexual violence against women from a young age, and constitutes an extended fallin</p><p><i>When I fell, the trees and houses were geometric shapes and I didn’t hit the ground, I tore through it.</i> (from ''When I walked out'')</p><p>Part II explores with the utmost nuance and subtlety the relationship between sexual consent and emotional abuse. Yet this collection is ultimately uplifting, a reclamation and catharsis, a triumph of familial love:</p><p><i>She says, without turning, ‘You’re the women who survived.’ Her hair is caught, not by the wind, but by the fireflies. </i></p><p><i>They puppeteer and pull at it, like stars to the stark grey moon. Before we forward march, she stands: ‘I think I’ll be leaving soon. </i></p><p><i>‘Thank the ones who believe your words and love you back to life. Listen to the blackbirds. Build a house for the blackbird’s wife.’ </i></p><p><i>Our tears flow into the lake, growing underwater forests. ‘Tomorrow, it’ll be sunny,’ she says. ‘And that, I can promise.’</i> (from ''For my sister'')</p>