pass it along

I remember when my mom would tuck me  
under her coat to hide me from  
watching people get hanged  
 
A daily public spectacle in Occupied Poland circa 1939  
 
My head bounced gently between her ample breasts  
 
I longed for her milk and honey  
 
having as an adult immediate erotic desire  
for women in trenchcoats  
 
 an  uncontrollable urge led me  
to walk up a short haired woman  
 
Asked her to tuck me under her coat  
 
"get lost sicko"  
 
She walked briskly away  
 
I followed uncontrollably  
driven by some activated instinct  
 
She swung around and pepper sprayed me  
 
My Eyes burned in pure agony  
I fell to my knees  
 
A photo that I wore around my neck fell loose
the miniature glass broke
with a tinkerbell clatter  
 
I crumpled over writhing  
 
leaving my consciousness  
on the pavement  
 
Feeling somewhat sorry  
for what she had done  
 
seeing the street deserted  
She went back  
to look at the photo  
 
"What kind of man these days  
wears a keepsake photo?"
she thought  
"Could men even have these kind of emotions?"  
 
She noticed it was of him as a young boy and his mother  
 
Black and white photography  
 
"Oh shit"
 
getting a wipe from her purse  
 
she wiped his eyelids and face  
 
placed her purse under his bleeding head  
 
when he came to  
 
she held him between her breasts  
 
inside her trenchcoat