He was 3 years old when I unloaded,
Flailing my arms like a cinema cliché,
Spanking and reciting…
A smack with eve-ry an-gry syll-a-ble.
It happened all at once – I became like my mother,
as though I were programmed to rerun,
And after… he looked at me like I was a stranger.
That night he flinched when I tucked him in.
For the price of a broken VCR,
I taught him to fear me –
to trust me less than the dog.
Dear Lord, – Rewind.