The War Hero Poem by Jeffrey Tedford

He swore he'd make a man of me, /A man like him, a swaggering tailhook Navy pilot/So when we were trapped in the storage closet/I did what a man would, tried to kick the door down./Hero beat us for our pains, a bare-assed ten year old, alternating belt and shoe/'Til blood ran and my brother and I/Stopped crying. Mother never investigated the clamor./I hated them both- especially when they brought a baby girl into this evil din./Evenings he'd kick me down/A Flight of stairs for neglecting a chore/ And then deny it./One night he went too far, flaying flesh/ Finally she left this well-respected Commander/Perhaps beating her was the finale.? What I do know: decades would pass before I'd let a man touch me/ Without tremblimg or quickly pulling away from the loathsome hug.