She Has Issues
at the age of three she was abandoned by her father
this being the 1950s in North Dakota
her mother had to leave to find work
and made her way west to Seattle
leaving behind two daughters
to be passed around from household to household
among the various family members
most of them unpleasant at the least
she remembers the abuse in only the vaguest of terms
though some incidents come to mind
such as her uncle laughing
behind the locked screen door
as she cried on the porch
with a large rooster
kicking and flapping
and pecking and scratching
at her head and back
she covered her face and cried as he laughed
that cock assaulted her until satisfied
only 11 and being punished for petty reasons
hard lessons beaten into her
over the course of years best forgotten
raped once her age reached double digits
it's not something she talks about
rape is not a word she uses
but I understood the story the one time it was told
an action repeated echoes out into those few words one day
hard times endured echo out into these few words today
she found her fair share of the unfair abuse of innocence
and no longer innocent by the time she met my father
only sixteen and suddenly pregnant
the start of the resentment
an issue carried over to her offspring
handed down in sharp strikes
belt or paddle or open hand
we were to be punished
as the unexpected children who stole away with her childhood
she carried on as she had been taught
I don't pity my mother
but I attempt to understand her
- Marvin Scott Marvin, 2005
* * *
© SpiritCaller.net, 2005
| 