Emasculation doesn’t need a scalpel.
I’d never even heard the word -
yet at ten I recognised the signs.
Watched you shrivel before my eyes,
become subservient.
Denying guilt by silence,
you let me take the blame,
watched while I was kicked
for refusing to admit
the fault was mine.
Fine porcelain shards
severed the link
'tween child and parents.
Was a broken plate worth
the loss of love?
You both grew weak…
but I grew strong.
Vickie Bowman - copyright 2004