ΤЂЄ GAMES THAT DADDY TAUGHT ME

little colin stutters
and stares at his palms
covered with cigarette burns
and turns them over
so that others
cannot see

he hides the scars
that blot his chest
from stockings
he’d filled with ice
while his father
smoked toyed
tinkled his ice filled whisky
and stroked his greying beard
and his bloated gut
and shouted
‘what the hell is taking you
so long boy’

little colin
knelt in the nude
on a carpet of salt
that burnt his knees
and made marks
that he explained
came from a fall
when the coach
kept him late
because he’d seen
his bruises
and his burns

and when he finally gets home
after running all the way
his father shouts
from his lazy boy
‘what the hell
took you so long
fill the ice bucket
and bring the salt boy
it’s time to play
the games
your grandpa
taught me’

(Collage: Loneliness 3 by Carlton)
© Carlton Carr 2013
http://othervoices.blog.co.uk