The Caretaker
Hatred is what a kid knows.
There is no understanding of how the life
Created the monster, who thwacks
Her bottom, each day;
Who ridicules the girl
And her pathetic attempts at a bathing suit.
Who sighs, shakes head, purses mouth, pissed, opens purse.
And then,
When the girl makes her very rational case, brave little attorney,
This makes the monster unleash
A new kind of articulate and sneer for which
The girl is not prepared. The girl
Can’t win against a slap or against the words:
Tears are pathetic excuses, there is no excuse, she has tried
Too hard and the girl is impossible and
Too sensitive to boot, oh there are so many illustrative
And air-tight examples! This
Is not how the monster wants to spend her life, either,
Taking care of a monster!
— Stephanie Brown