"Boy, we both know you did not grow upin an easy home–that your mother was a freight trainof..."

“Boy, we both know you did not grow up

in an easy home–

that your mother was a freight train

of Christian gospel, that your father

took his fists and laid tracks in your skin.

We know how you tried to be good for them:

good little Catholic boy–sits himself in confession

two times a week, telling god about the men

who made you weak in the knees, telling god

you were sorry

when you weren’t.

And you shouldn’t have had to be.

Catholic boy in a home like hot stove:

your mother’s love, a cast iron skillet–

too heavy for a boy your age to carry,

left burns like stigmata on your fingers.

Mama called them recompense.

Your mother’s love was big enough

for an abusive husband, but still too small

for a gay son.

How many times were you put on your knees

in the church of a god you didn’t believe in

and told to beg a ghost for forgiveness?

Boy, what they did to you was not salvation.

It was betrayal.”

- excerpt from MAMA’S WHIPPING POST by Ashe Vernon (via latenightcornerstore)