FAMILY TREE

By Kate Hamilton

the first time a grown man wants to fuck you

is a baptism soaked in your mother’s blood.

you are pimple-skinned on the roadside

waiting for her to pick you up

in the body she gave you

which she always hated on herself

later they will laugh it off

tell you it’s just biology and

take the compliment

maybe the grown man will go home

fuck his grown wife

and the image of his own mother will intrude his mind.

looking up at him

her bare breasts falling into her armpits,

she tells him -

gosh, you really do have your father’s eyes

#darkpoetsclub