Virginia Giuffre
For Virginia
father’s rape taught her rules
sheltered acts via patriarchy;
she, an object to be (ab)used
mouth used for unspeakable
until, broken, obliteration’s silence
child at play depends on care
safety, warmth, needs are met
gross flipping of foundation’s script
trauma-twisted her development
father’s rape taught her rules
swapped with neighbor’s daughter
while mothers drank to blindness
two men allies got their pervy jollies
who never feared accountability
sheltered acts via patriarchy
gang-raped by schoolmates
father got her work at Mar-a-lago
plucked by a perv’s handler
to make monsters’ fantasies real
father paid off with sick dowry
she, an object to be (ab)used
already broken in from age seven
what followed a matter of degree
trappings of riches degrading cage
drugged up psyched out numbed
mouth used for unspeakable
from frying pan, into burning fire
an abusive husband, pattern set
she yearned for release as she
screamed, screamed the truth
until broken, obliteration’s silence
Merril is today’s host of dVerse’ Meeting the Bar/Form. Merril would like us to write a cascade form poem. My poem is for Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein and Maxwell’s many, many victims. Virginia passed away April 25, 2025.
Tao Talk 
I found this YouTube video.
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Jim, thank you for sharing the video. Virginia did the best she could to get the truth out there, but the protective shield of patriarchy keeps doing what it was designed to do: protect the rich and powerful. Reading her book, learning about the number of times she flew around the globe to testify and share her story was mind-boggling.
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awful content, good poem
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Thank you, Catherin.
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I’m so glad you wrote this, Lisa. Thank you for pulling no punches with it. I wrote a few poems about the whole horror story too but haven’t shared them because I’ve no doubt they’d be triggering. I must read her memoir, thanks for sharing it.
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Sunra, thank you. Reading her book was triggering for me. I was just thinking a minute ago that not one, not a single one, of my abusers was ever brought to justice. Even more, not one was ever brought to the attention of the police. I know in my heart that there are millions of victims out there in that same situation. When. When will a day come when it will not be tolerated?
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❤️💔
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Lisa, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. I think it’s so important for women to share their stories, to make it okay for more women to do the same, because abusers need to be called out, always. The problem is, it can so often be the “nice guy” and they’re the worst because people tend to believe them over the victim. But the tides are turning. It’s been slow – I mean, the #metoo movement only started in 2019 – and progress hasn’t been as fast as women would like, but it’s still progress. It started a snowball effect with the all the depraved billionaires falling from grace one by one and this is still in effect and thank fuck it is.
Much love and respect to you ❤️
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Nina deep appreciation for your well-wishing and for your assessment of the situation. I agree about the charismatic ones. I also blame the institutions that are supposed to hold them accountable if they do get reported. Hoping and praying women speak out and get believed.
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Thank you for writing about her, Li. It is so horrible that these men –including the one in the White House–are getting away with these crimes.
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You’re welcome, Merril. It boggles the mind how they keep getting away with it.
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It does.
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A very heartbreaking poem Li. How can this even happen?
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Very good question, Sadje. It is rampant in our society.
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That is so sad.
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Powerful poem Lisa! It needs to be said.
JIM
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Thank you very much. Despite all of her exploiters she found a way to keep going and sharing her story, at least for awhile. I feel so bad for her children :(
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I’ve read your poem again, Lisa and it is very moving and the form lends itself to the subject, well done! I’m hoping to see more poems like this on dverse. I think it’s time for poets and song writers to address the current madness, it’s not going away anytime soon. JIM
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JIM much appreciated. I sadly agree with you on the last part.
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Potent Lisa! This Epstein horror is physically nauseating. It has me with no words, because it leaves me weak and feeling powerless. This requires far more than words, this requires dark grisly retribution, and I am sadly not in a position to exact such — but in the dark places in my heart I have ripped these monster’s apart, slowly and strategically. . I thought about commenting on the situation in a post but it so disturbed me it was hard to concentrate the anger I felt. It literally was taking me down mentally — so for sanity’s sake, I took emotional solace in the forest, by a waterfall… poetically. But I salute you my friend. 👍🏼👊🏼
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Rob, you don’t know how much I appreciate your comment. Walking me through your feelings about it. I do understand why you chose the emotional solace of poetically walking in the forest, by a waterfall. I will visualize that as I fall off to sleep tonight — maybe meet you there.
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👍🏼
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Well done Li! for such an awful happening.
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Stew, thanks. It’s the least I can do for Dear Virginia. How she was able to keep it together enough to write her book I will never know.
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A powerful poem, Lisa, about a terrible subject,
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Thank you, Kim.
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You’re welcome, Lisa.
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Growing up, I felt so much optimism – the Feminist movement not the least of it, but now so much that seemed to be heading in the right direction has been torn down and the sad and terrible tale you have told so well here, is an example of it Li – saddened beyond measure…
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Andrew, I appreciate your thoughtful and sensitive comment. I wish more men were like you <3
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This is a great tribute Lisa to a young woman who from early childhood was abused by men who had power over her. It is tragic that the only way to be free of the pain was to take her own life. Society is plagued by men who seem to feel it’s ok even a right to abuse children/people I’m not sure it will ever end. 🖤
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Ange, thank you so much. You are horribly right on their plague on society.
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Yes an I do wish I wasn’t 💞
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Terrible to live a life like that… from one abuser to the next… I wander why and how…. what men are doing this?
Of course some have fallen from grace and has to move to smaller dwellings… but there are many who are getting out without even a slap on the wrist.
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Bjorn, in my world, they are everywhere! When I was working, so many of the juveniles and their parents had been victimized. There are so many that the system is ill-equipped to properly deal with them. Many times prisons are filled with non-dangerous property type criminals, and the dangerous ones walk the streets with as you say, “a slap on the wrist” if anything. When you’ve got a paternalistic, misogynistic system, where even the adminstrators of it are abusers, how is one to get justice? It’s a vast subject, but I will stop here.
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Li, It seems I only knew half the story of Virginia’s struggles and what you’ve revealed here only drives home how monstrous it is that these predatory rich and powerful villains deliberately chose the weakest and most vulnerable of broken children to traffic. This cascade ought to shouted in every townhall, church, and plaza, and from every rooftop. How is it that not one of the clients of Epstein has been yet thrown into prison? It’s almost unfathomable. All three branches government have blood on their hands.
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Dora, you’re so right about targeting the vulnerable! It happens at all levels of society. It’s a common practice to recruit other teenagers to recruit victims. There need to be trafficking task forces in every community, where a contact at each step of the justice system networks to make sure things happen like they need to, from street cops, social service agencies, shelters, prosecutor’s offices, defense attorneys offices, judges, reps from the jail, treatment providers, and JUDGES who understand that human trafficking needs to be severely dealt with. TOTALLY agree that all 3 branches have blood on their hands. Thank you for your thoughtful and informed comment <3
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Your poem cascades with trauma and evil…justice must be done for Virginia and the other victims!
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Lynne, I do hope it comes to pass. Too many have been damaged to ignore accountability.
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I had to laugh when Noem said they needed ro raid schools to look for sex offenders. Just start with Congress, the cabinet, and Trump and his hangers on. Then pick any wealthy powerful man, the head of any large corporation. There are not enough prison cells, (k)
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Why doesn’t it surprise me she said that?
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Noting they do or say would surprise me.
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My heart got heavier and heavier as I read this, Lisa.
Brilliant job on bringing forth this awful story.
Disgusting how all this horrible people remain unpunished – so far. I still have some hope.
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Dale, I hope so also :(
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Any one of these failings is a societal failure. The repeated horrors and escalating indifference to this single person. It staggers the heart to breaking. This should be mandatory reading
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Steve, thank you for speaking truth. We have lost our way. Or maybe we’ve always been lost? Let us find a healthier way to co-exist with each other and with our dear mother earth.
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I have no words. I’m so glad you wrote this. You honor this woman and shine a light on the truth.
How can anyone hurt a child and rob them of their innocence?
These perpetrators of evil should be shamed, reviled and rejected by our society. What’s wrong with our society?
The super bowl is tomorrow, and I know in years past there have been places set up for men to go in and pay for sex (rape women). And apparently the men line up. Most of the women in this situation are prisoners. How long do women wait for justice?
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Lisa, not just harming a child, but her own dad raped her for years and then traded her with the neighbor for his daughter. The man has never seen a day in jail.
OMG never heard about the superbowl setup for men to rape imprisoned women. What!?!? Nothing would surprise me, as long as they have free reign to do as they please.
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Such abominable cruelty. What a tragic life this woman had, and it is so sad that the unresolved abuses took her life.
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Steve, I’d love to think only she has been through it, but I know she is just one of millions over time. When will it end?
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It’s so very disturbing, and the lack of justice adds to the very sad story.
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Oh, I feel so bad for all of these women! Disgusting men, proof, and what? How is it even close to being okay? It should be immediate jail for everyone named even once!
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I would like to see every person incarcerated for drug crimes (if violent crimes aren’t also attached to them) released and these MOFOs put into their cells and welded in. Also, the mentally ill need to be let out and given intensive day treatment if they are able to be safely managed in the community.
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I totally agree! The penal system in this country is so broken. I’ve never done any real research into it but like the rest of the government, prisons run on the money game. The number of inmates, the number of intakes, releases,…
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Yes, more protest poems!
The axis of evil has revealed itself. The devils walk among us.
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Shaun, thank you so much. I have to get all shook up to write them and sometimes that takes it out of me. I do hope to write one about Bad Bunny soon. Just watched a mini-doc on him and learned a lot about why he is so popular. Have you ever seen, “They Live”?
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They Live? That was some kind of horror movie? From the 90s? Hmm..I’m not sure. And who is Bad Bunny?
I stayed up late reading another chapter of Feeding Ghosts last night. The part where Tessa and her mum are retracing things mostly in Hong Kong. Things seemed to really come together during this section, I couldn’t stop reading.
It made my wonder about the whole writing process that she went through and the order that the story is presented. Particularly at the point when she discovers a new relative after six years of putting things together. If she had already started writing and drawing her story she must have had to consider reordering it. As I mentioned before, some of the motivation for the problems with her own mother are only really coming to light by the middle of the book.
It does make me appreciate all the effort she went to and also consider the possibility that she has inherited some of the madness of her family, to do all this!
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Shaun, They Live is more sci-fi than horror. ETs are among us. If you wear special glasses, you can see which “people” are really ET. Wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David star and have “the best buddy battle ever.”
Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican musical artist that topped some American musical chart for an album completely sung in Spanish. He was chosen to do the half-time show for The Super Bowl yesterday. He held a summer residency in PR to work on the show and invited people to visit PR, which infused the country with money for the artisans who live there. That’s about all I know.
I appreciate your thoughts on the Tessa book. She put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it.
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This ripped my heart, Li! The evil that men do…
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Punam, I’m just learning that they were trafficking boys also :( What will it take to make them stop?
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