Into the Eyes
Anthony Bernstein
Between her
father's fist
and angry slap,
under his savage
hand,
his leather
strap,
within a ghastly
circle
of a dozen
drooling family men,
below a turbulent
sky
piling insane
purple clouds,
filling the
heavens and
threatening
a murderous
deluge,
beneath her
home's gilded
archway
triggering
constant reminders
that haunt,
harangue and cut
deep red ribbons
of meat.
before the
shining stars
and well manicured
streets
of Beverly
hills
and behind
the shattered visage
of this seething
teen beauty
broken into
pieces
by a secret
fury,
broken into
pieces
between her
father's fist
and angry slap,
and under his
savage hand,
clot serpentine
nursery visions
into future
solutions chiseled
to a fine point,
and gushing
buckets of crimson
laughter
through her
baby-soft, sour
cherry lips
straight into
the eyes
of a dozen stricken candy men.
