[mortifying]
when she sneered, "and did your sister
finally stop at four?" and i replied
"no; she did not 'finally stop at four,' but, in fact,
produced a fleeting fifth, katherine ruth, who lived
eleven days this fall," she, aghast, quickly asked
"what happened?" to cover the sudden shock of tears.
[the scorpion]
i had been reacting to her tone in the long beat
before i spoke, when, seeking to strike at the values
belied by her question, ideological and ill-
grounded, i delved, found, wrought and sounded
in my own remonstrating tone those terse
words that surely found and marked their target.
[batterer]
i did not answer with the clinical
details and terms i'd learned during those eleven days,
nor allude to any troubling details
in the mother's chart or behavior. i did not batter
her with these in that reproachful tone,
but "i did not mean to make you cry," i lied.