[Crystal]

 

What need breeds this revealed truth?

 

[Joseph Ward]

 

My treatment goal changed

to depart from surgical

removal of parts

 

to start my most difficult

process to reassess my

 

most precious aspects

lost at the cost of seeking

heaven’s holiness

 

to resurrect my wrecked child.

My therapist insisted

 

that my Old Man stand

and face my Hurt Child’s grief to 

erase his great anguish

 

with relinquished pride and self

confidence to seek guidance

 

for ways to assist

his troubled being reeling

from priestly loving.

 

My Hurt Child felt defiled by

my abandonment more than

by his sexual

abasement by religious,

pious, tin relics.

 

He flicked searing laser beams

from his eye to fry my soul.

 

His pursed lips and scowl

howled silently his craving

to annihilate

 

the being worthy his hate.

Turning his back sacked my next

 

two sessions for lack 

of cooperative speech

needed to reach turf

 

needed to create common

ground sound enough to pound out

 

the hurt that perverts

understanding required

for souls mired in

 

prolonged pain to explain their

disgust and mistrust of those

 

they loath who drove home

abandonment’s betrayal

that aggravates gains

 

to reduce the strain between

alienated kinsmen.

 

It was the Imp who

broke the impasse when he spoke 

to the Hurt Child’s hope

to revoke the dark forty

years of abysmal, silent

 

stillness, unable 

to relate with life’s bright light

and vibrant colors.

 

Thanks to the Imp, the Hurt Child

and I would try to revive

 

a relationship

crushed by life’s rushed pace to trace

power’s avenue.

 

My fifteen year old ego

in the throes of my trauma’s

 

unending, secret

drama was left to whither

and dry up to dust.

 

I will not ever sever

my ties to my hurt child’s cries

 

to develop and rise high

above teenage, pubescent,

hormonal intrigue.

 

The Old Man must educate

his Hurt Child’s dwarfed ego state.

 

[Shannon]

 

While we’re grateful for

your candor toward revealing

the intricacies

of the healing of your soul,

please, appease the confusion

 

we two bare, and share 

with us what all this recall

means for Tina’s care.

 

[Joseph Ward]

 

Avoidance of unpleasant

consequences for hunches

 

made about female

psyches or mind sets must be

fully met by me

 

to offset deep regret for

ignorant, sexist displays,

 

so I decided

to delay such talk and walk

you through what I knew

 

to be true of residue

left to undo my spirit

 

after traumatic

child abuse is thought to be

defused but retains

 

the same effect as those few,

marred cancer cells that remain

 

to regain vigor

to trigger a relapse to

one’s degradation.

Mishaps are bound to occur

when feelings handicap one’s

 

pubescent thinking.

My fifteen year old male child

bonded tightly with

 

Tina’s bold, sassy, abused,

confused and sexually

 

used preteen female

unbeknownst to the Old Man

who found her issues

 

to imbue his compassion

to discontinue his choice

 

for noninvolvement.

Consequently, I was moved

to participate

 

in Tina’s support circle.

To restate, remember that

 

my Hurt Child only

revived his lost hope to thrive

shortly before I

 

finished half of my treatment.

So, the Old Man languished in

 

his self perception

of the presentation of

diverse ego states.

 

He heard the words that perturbed

his sensibilities but

the Hurt Child perked up

once revived and would contrive

to know her better.

 

Children in need do not feed

on wise words but imagine

 

fun fantastic deeds.

When twelve and fifteen year olds

cajole to dole out

 

words ladened with niceties

wiser minds must intercede.

 

The Old Man was not

attuned to subtle shifts in

displayed ego states.

 

Everyone must guard against

the expense of correcting

 

grievous errors in

judgement that leads to very

bad predicaments.

 

The Hurt Child at times usurps

center stage to exile

 

wise reign, to restrain

good judgment, for excitement.

A hard fact to learn.

 

To abide Tina and I,

we both must stress discipline

 

in our command

to assess true emotions

over fantasies.