THE WHIPPING

the old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs...

wildly he crashes through elephant ears,
pleads in dusty zinnias,,
while she in spite of crippling fat
pursues and corners him..

she strikes and strikes the shrilly circling
boy till the stick breaks
in her hand.. his tears are rainy weather
to woundlike memories....

my head gripped in bony vise
of knees,,, the writhing struggle
to wrench free,, the blows,, the fear
worse than blows that hateful...

words could bring,, the face that I
no longer knew or loved
well it is over now,, it is over
and the boy sobs in his room..

and the woman leans muttering against
a tree, exhausted,, purged.....

. nor izati...