My father was a white man
\nwho thought Mexican women were exotic
\nHe stapled a poster of Frida Kahlo above the marital bed
\nthe one in which she is bound in an instrument of torture
\nand her boobs protrude beyond the bars<\/p>\n
Later I learned that it was a self-portrait
\nKahlo\u2019s rendition of herself in a medical device
\nHer body had been crushed in a street car accident
\nmost of her bones had been fractured
\nand a steel rod had pierced her vagina<\/p>\n
The door to my parents\u2019 bedroom was always closed
\nI wasn\u2019t supposed to know that the poster was there<\/p>\n
I often heard my parents fighting
\nsometimes all night
\nMy father had grown up in
\na blue-collar neighborhood
\nwhere there were broken-down cars on most front lawns
\nSome of them were being worked on
\nIn my mother, he had taken cruelty
\nfor exoticism<\/p>\n
He owned a Mexican wrestling mask
\nmetal-flake green with silver sparkles
\nand sometimes he put it on
\ngot naked
\nand stood in front of their bedroom mirror
\nand flexed his muscles
\nI wasn\u2019t supposed to know that either<\/p>\n
But my mother was a lot tougher than him
\nand often kicked his ass
\nIt may have been a true S&M marriage
\nwith her as the dominatrix
\nI\u2019m not sure<\/p>\n
But the upshot is
\nthat I developed an unhealthy addiction
\nto combat sports
\nand if the doors of domestic violence are closed
\nif my vision is blocked
\nfrom viewing abuse au natural
\nthere are arenas with rings
\nwhere mayhem is served up
\nfor me and others like me<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MTCHELL KROCKMALNIK GRABOIS<\/strong> has had over thirteen-hundred of his poems and fiction pieces appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for numerous prizes. His novel, Two-Headed Dog<\/em>, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle<\/a> and Nook<\/a>, or as a print edition<\/a>. To see more of his work, google “Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois”. He lives in Denver. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My father was a white man who thought Mexican women were exotic He stapled a poster of Frida Kahlo above the marital bed the one in which she is bound in an instrument of torture and her boobs protrude beyond… Continue Reading
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