Betty Jo Hilger - Contradiction...

“I’m not doing that! ”
“You can’t make me! ”
“Get out of my face! ”
“Idiot! ”

Rude answers to mother’s query, soft inquiry begetting storms.
Incapable of submission, he is unable to comply.

“I said, I don’t want any! ”
“Leave me alone! ”
“Prove it! ”
“Stupid! ”

Desperate cries arrive with screaming, rigid stance grown disdainful.
Frozen mien of severity, inflexible, he cannot move.
His foot stomps against the floor, and kicks the wall, leaving shoeprints.
He punches furniture as he walks, launching items at hand, and lashes out.
Thought stops cold, hesitantly caught, shocked into denial by fear.
Knee jerk reaction to battle, he draws the line in frigid stone.

When asked, “Do you love me? ”
He responds with “NO! ”
When he is told she loves him,
He says, “No you don’t! ”

When he asks, and the world does not deliver upon command,
His mind rebels, fireworks explode, and eyes smolder with banked passion.
Self defense, safeguarding security, demands his attention.
Unable to discern a benefit he draws back to fight.
Yet, by way of passage through time, he understands and shows regret.

He knows right from wrong…
and sorrow.
Apologies conveyed, he tries…
to be good.

**excerpt from 'Living in Chaos Survival: A Parenting Journey...' **Published through LuluPress 2004

Betty Jo Hilger

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/contradiction-8/