
This poem is from the chapbook Her Bloody Project by Magdalena Louise Hirt (Finishing Line Press) and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/her-bloody-project-by-magdalena-louise-hirt/
Her Bloody Project is a creative response to His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. It follows the same form as Burnet’s novel, but it is filled with poetry that deals with being raped at the age of sixteen. This is my past, which can haunt me still, but by ekphrastically responding to another author’s creativity, it promotes a literary ripple of healing. It’s trauma-induced, rape-related, childhood-robbing, crime-inflicted, victim-ignored, self-blamed, teenage-wronged, real-life poetry.

Magdalena Louise Hirt has a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Toledo and a Master of Letters from the University of Highlands and Islands for Scottish Highlands and Islands Literature. Magdalena has multiple published articles in Cruising World, one in Enchanted Living, and another in Literary Traveler. Her five poetry chapbooks, Levels of the Ocean, Her Sea-filled Arms: Layers of Blue, Pacific Pieces, Pacific Prescription: Leukemia Cyclone, and Her Bloody Project are available to purchase. Her first work of poetry and prose, Distant Story Blue, is also available. She has four self-published chapbooks, an article published via E-book from being a featured speaker at a conference in Oxford, and poems that have been published in The Holland Sentinel, News from Hope College, The Mill from the University of Toledo, and on display at the Toledo Museum of Art, which included first place and finalist awards. At Grand Valley State University, she received 1st place in fiction and 2nd place in poetry for the Oldenburg Writing Contest. She has been a featured speaker at a literary conference in Boston and two Poetry Speaks at the University of Toledo. She is currently finishing a script, a novel, a memoir, and more poetry. With her teaching degree, she has taught and inspired students of many ages.