near-rape of a nine-year-old

Cabby, here are my impressions for what they are worth.  

It's a topic that easily induces heated emotion, yet I seem to be experiencing a disconnect with any because of the short burst statements - as well as the repetition. I feel that the form(at) does the subject little justice, whereas freeform(at) might be a better choice.  
 
Of course, I also understand that you as a writer are not the type to try an manipulate your readers by exploiting their emotions ( whereas other writers at DUP occasionally do when they need an personal attention fix ).  

I don't quite get the italicized emphasis on "sleight-of-hand" and why that isn't repeated. It's a palindrome of sorts, so maybe I'm in expectation of such when I shouldn't be.

I hope this feedback is useful.

Your feedback is immensely useful, JB.  I appreciate it.  Now I have an opportunity to assess how others and you see what I am trying to communicate.  I can also embrace the moment to fix or elucidate my writing.  
 
Your disconnect with typically heated emotion  
There is no finesse in usury; it’s just a means to selfish ends to the perpetrator; and there is no articulate response from infantile victims who cannot, in the first place, even figure out what is happening to them.  Predators tend to hone in on their pleasure, while victims tend to see such exploitive action only as an incomprehensible blur.  The “short burst statements” represent just that.  The poet has a 3-D perspective of the situation.  He is objective narrator, helpless victim, and heartless predator at the same time.  Obviously, the persona is NOT the victim, in which case emotions—if a child victim could understand them—would come pouring out with raw flesh pain.  
 
Repetition and palindromic form  
Pleasure is just a fleeting “high” that a predator wishes could last longer than a burst of ecstasy; that’s why he can never be satiated.  For an abused child victim, the frenzy of attack is the flipside of the predator’s experience:  every second counts like eternity and every thrust (where applicable) like a throbbing machine that cannot seem to tire or wane.  The palindromic repetition represents this.  With regard to the absence of italicization in the repeated sleight-of-hand:  language (spoken or written) is like a personality.  If I introduced a colleague in my first sentence to an audience as “Mike McCallum, the Body-Snatcher,” would I need to make the same titular commotion every time I mention my colleague?  Of course not; the reference becomes acceptable and understood “at linguistic common-law,” you might say.  Emphasis one is carried throughout as the norm.  Hence, I avoid superfluity by appealing to linguistic commonsense.  
 
Let me be fair to you, JB  
Your eagle eye has not missed a stroke of my pen or a beat of my rhyme—even if you have missed the rhyme in my reason.  I would gladly fix any anomaly, had my intentions not been faithfully applied in this poem.  I really feel that a child is the sacred handmaid(en) of the Lord and should receive the deepest respect and protection.  I have only to visualize an assault on any of my three children to lose my equilibrium to the mysteries of what I could and would do.  
 
You are dead right  
I am not the type to manipulate or exploit the emotions of my readers for personal accolades.  Once again, thank you for taking the time to detail me on your interpretation.  
 
Sincerely  
 
cab

Thank you, Cabby. I appreciate the time you took to explain your mindset when creating this. I'll try to reread it factoring in all you've said and see if my experience changes or if I continue to struggle with it.  

Thanks for even pursuing the subject further, JB.  I understand that my persuasion might differ from your suasion.  Please share your post-reading afterthoughts with me.

Sincerely

cab

I certainly will. I'm here to learn about poetry as much as write it.

Cab, I must agree with Johnny to a certain degree. While I could feel the essence of your topic here in regards to the actual act, I wasn't certain in regards to the context with which you wrote. Are you referring to a pedophile stalking girls, or, arranged child marriages? My thought were the latter, particularly with the opening quote; however, I am uncertain how to translate this.

Thank you, Ahavati.  I appreciate the time you have taken to give me constructive feedback.

The poem represents an archetype rather than an example or sample.  I would apply it wherever and everywhere it fits—whether a situation involving a pedophile, stalker, pimp, incestuous relation, or transactional parental child peddler.

There is never any beauty in seeing children abused.  For the same reason, the poem bears no beauty to attract anyone to it.  Its “short burst statements” (as aptly described by Johnny Blaze) do not seem to tell the whole story—just as victims of child abuse often cannot even comprehend what is happening to them, let alone to articulate their feelings.

Just as predators go away insatiate, victims remain confused, and passersby often do not give a hoot, so does the poem not land the reader in a comfortable spot.  After all, child abuse knows no idyll.

Sincerely

cab

Cab,
I certainly love reading your poems but as I explained once before to you, I find them way above my head. Even though I would never have been able to articulate even the questions as well as JB and Ahavati, I was able to grasp so much more of your ideas once you delineated them. You are a very talented force on this site. thanks to all of you for helping me understand. This is such a huge topic with immense importance in our day.

Hello, my fellow poet and friend, TIG  
 
Your honesty and sincerity never fail to amaze me.  Thank you for the power of their simplicity and for your kind remarks.  
 
Now as afar as poetic complexities are concerned, I will admit that the poets on this site are at varying degrees of development.  What no one should do, however, is think that another is less of a poet because that person is not yet standing on the shoulders of the same giants on which we all strive to stand.  
 
I write with differing degrees of complexity.  My children's poetry is simple enough for a child to understand -- even if it can also be interpreted from an adult perspective (dual meanings).  The more you get to understand the language of the poet, the more your own writing will improve.  
 
Here are two steps you should find useful:  (1) find some classic poetry (Shakespeare, Milton, Frost, Blake, Dickenson, etc.) and just read, read, read.  You will pick up their drift and their language; (2) look for poetry analysis examples online and let them feed you and lead you.  Copy/paste the two links below to head in these directions.  The 1st one takes actual examples and analyses them right before your very eyes.  The 2nd one gives you pointers of what to look for when you analyze.  
 
https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/reviews/poetry-analysis/#:~:text=Examples%20of%20Poetry%20Analysis%201%20Stolen%20Rivers.%20The,divine%20experience%20rather%20than%20dogma.%20More%20items...%20  
 
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/american-poets-of-the-20th-century/how-to-analyze-poetry  
 
Beyond this, TIG, if you see any particular poem(s) of mine that interests you and yet eludes your understanding, just let me know and I will do a quick analysis for you.  
 
Yours sincerely  
 
cab