Remembering Childhood Poem by RIC BASTASA

by accident you come across
an old picture
you recognize the face of your father
beside your mother
with his gun on the side of his body
as reservist of the army
you look closely
your mother pouts
and she is holding on to her
white skirt
you father's right hand grips
his gun
while the left holds on to
the chair just behind your
mother's neck

there is a baby being held
by your mother
it is sleeping and it looks
like you

your father does not like
you and you know it from the very start
you know how to pretend
till he died