Incentive to Sense
Jon Petruschke
Trying to explain gender
role stereotypes to men who hit
with every twinge of emotion.
It’s hard to enter another’s
paradigm, unleash a shift,
especially when they feel
smoking pot is the best way
to rinse a soul.
They admit their tear ducts
dried up, and they go
through relationships
like cups of coffee.
They assert their jive
about hurting to be alive
but they’d rather face a fist
than their feelings,
except the one clenching
their hearts.
Afraid they’ll uncover
terror like the father
that beat all the understanding
out of them,
or just convinced them
“You’re a worthless piece of shit!”
No longer able to cry
by age six.
They’re wives heard it and felt it
and bled it until they left it
in them, accepting it
like daily trips
down the stairs.
