Connie Pan, originally from Maui, earned a BA in creative writing from Grand Valley State University and an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Fiddlehead, Carve Magazine, PRISM international, Rosebud Magazine, Bamboo Ridge, and elsewhere. An excerpt from her novel-in-progress was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A freelance writer and editor, she lives in California.
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From “Because We Need Evidence, Send His Emails Somewhere You Don’t Have to See Them”
label: don’t-open
From the Contributor Commentary
Years ago, the grounds manager of my old apartment building told me about a murder-suicide nearby. A man, estranged from his ex, discovered where she was hiding, broke in, killed her, her friends, then himself. Terribly, this is a common headline. Margaret Atwood states, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” I wrote this poem for lovers, girlfriends, and wives who have left relationships—and who were, in turn, terrorized by their exes—to challenge sexist narratives that fault women. She shouldn’t have worn that. She shouldn’t have dated him. She shouldn’t have given him another chance. You get the idea. This damning and illogical dismissal of crime against females ignores the problem’s core; the world should be raising better men, and the world should be holding men, guilty of crimes against women, accountable.
Ms. Aligned 