Warning: The content may be triggering
When Mother turns on the television, Peter sits tensely
with his tiny hands clenched tightly into fists.
Mother says slouching is bad and boys that slouch must
be punished.
The Captain lectures Mr. Bunny Rabbit for stealing carrots.
Peter wonders why the Captain doesn’t burn Mr. Bunny
Rabbit’s arms.
Stealing is bad.
A bunny rabbit that steals must be punished.
Lions stalk the plains of Africa.
They roar and eat up the deer.
When they finish eating they stretch out their claws
and shake out their bloody manes.
Jim, the man on TV says; if a deer is too young and too weak,
it ends up as food.
Then he says, “As a mother lion protects her cubs, you can protect
your kids with insurance from Mutual of Omaha.”
Suddenly, Peter’s heart speeds up; he cocks his head and listens:
Mother’s in the kitchen boiling water.
Peter must sit very still and be extra quiet.
Mother says squirming and being loud is bad.
Loud little boys that squirm must be punished.
(C) Rob Goldstein 2017 All Rights Reserved
The stuffed bear in the photo was made by Second Life artist, AM Radio
Heavy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Umm…yeah. It’s taken me thirty years to figure out what this piece is about.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well it’s wonderful, painful, but wonderful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Joey. The original draft of this is cryptic–Sometimes you can get wonderful with painful but it’s a balancing act.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A chilling post Rob. You brought home the point. Wishing you a thriving Thursday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a painful piece to complete because I don’t want to know about these things. But it’s the only way to free Peter. There’s more to this story.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve no doubt. And when you are ready,I know you will tell it with unique honestly, a touch of subtly, but still vividly — as you always do. Hugs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The deepest scars are the psychological ones. An abused child is a hostage in a world he didn’t choose and from which there is no escape.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is so much truth to this
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you have a good Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. I’m so grateful to have a blog to share with other survivors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am grateful for you having survived and sharing your story to help me and so many others
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thankyou! If you live in the States I hoe you had a good Thanksgiving.
LikeLike
Well…..my daughter wanted to boycott Thanksgiving as she said she felt like it was a hoax to honor the slaughter of American Indians!
And we are thankful and have gratitude every day for what we have so we don’t really NEED a day for that but I get the idea of why people get together and celebrate in fact we did for most of my life. After mine and my daughter’s health decline we try and find little bits of joy where we can.
My husband did make a turkey and some sweet potatoes. My daughter is vegan so she ate the sweet potatoes and we watched the sun set and called it a day!!!!
We live in Florida in the states yes.
Thank you for the well wishes.
Hoping you had a good day too
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand your daughter’s POV but I focus on the idea that the Native Americans who gave aide to the Pilgrims did the moral thing. For me Thanksgiving celebrates a moment of compassion, one of those moments that make us truly human. Sometimes a strictly political point of view can narrow our field of vision.
I say that we promote the kind of government that rectifies the wrongs of the past by using our wealth to create a better standard of living for all of us; and by making set asides for the descendants of those who were abused.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh heartrending how little children a moulded a certain way and struggle with the consequences for the rest of their lives.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was explaining the difference between Roy Moore and Al Franken to a Russian twitter troll playing a sleazy game of ‘whatbpoutism’.
There is no similarity between a breach of social etiquette and the evil of pedophilia.
A woman can forgive Al Franken
for being a boor and be done with it. What Moore did and continues to do do is unforgivable.
LikeLiked by 2 people
How rather intense and a tad disturbing. Like it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for your visit and the comment. I’m glad you like it!
LikeLike