The Absent/Abusive Father
Kaitlyn M. Ulmer
Fathers are more than just mobile sperm banks.
They are phone-deficient telemarketers
And stingy Santa Clauses,
Stained wife-beaters and assembly-line spankers.
They have broad, hard hands,
Speak softly but carry big sticks
Wider than rule of thumb.
They are boot-camp junkies,
Alcoholic racecar drivers,
Supposed dead infatuations,
Ghosts of once-great men,
Has-beens and never-beens.
And yet we couldn't breathe
Without their date-raping,
Attached abandonment
And paradoxical pleasure pilfered
From female fears, consummating in
Testosterone-reeking breeding.
