Tuck Frust Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Over the years,
I have heard people...
Feeling betrayed.
Upset by someone,
They either suspected...
Or discovered disloyal.
And this I can understand.
Heartbreak is a witch.
That seems to hound its victim,
To beat down into the ground...
With a titanium broomstick.
And explaining that kind of pain,
Done to tolerate it?
Some could probably do.
To mend and heal.
As if that to do is quick.

Yet...
What is 'tuck frust'?
The other day I heard this couple,
Yelling back at each other...
'No,
You tuck frust.
Oh yeah?
NO YOU TUCK FRUST!
As far as I'm concerned...
You could have done that long ago! '

"What did that mean? "
I kept think to myself.
"If they were frustrated with each other,
Why would they wanted,
It to be tucked?
Had they both been drinking?
Or smoking weed too much?
And...
Not a word was mentioned,
About the babysitter.

'No you tuck it.
No YOU TUCK it!
I COULD CARE LESS! '

Over and over again.
I heard them say this.
Were they talking about,
A child that had not been tucked in bed?
And frustrated with one another,
By what the other did not do?
But didn't do what the other said?
How much were they paying the babysitter.
More curious I became.

I left that scene.
Wondering what they meant.
And what they were 'on'.

Tuck frust?
What an odd name for a child.
To have to explain a name like that.
Tucker Frust.
Today?
Some kids can be mean spirited.
You know,
Calling somebody out of their name.
And why would anyone,
Refer to their child as 'it'?
Hopefully Tucker will grow up,
To be much more trusting than his parents.
I'm just sayin'.