Flinch

The guys are over at my place,

Sunday night game,

Richard is off on another tirade

at the damn referee,

and as I sit here observing it's the usual charade,

the manly facade:

chug, chug, chug the nasty beers,

bear-like bellows, touchdown cheers,

ogle at cheer-leading derrieres.

Suddenly Richard cuts his insults short

to throw a jab my way,

and he cuts the jab short of my face

but I flinch anyway.

We erupt in laughs,

he calls me a b***h,

I echo his words,

more laughs, and a stitch

in my side,

because I have to laugh extra hard

to cover up the fright 

at the sight

of his hand,

and it f*****g sucks,

because I really want to talk about why

I flinch when I see that glint in the eye,

that so resembles my fathers'

back on those nights I would dread,

when the raging beast roamed searching

for the little boy under the bed.

But instead

I swallow down another nasty beer,

I let out my fiercest touchdown cheer,

and point out a particularly nice derriere,

because manliness is when you hide

your flinches and your fear.

Reviews

[MomzillaNC]

I've always wondered why guy do that to each other. What pain are they trying to mask with this rough bravado?

I know what it is to suffer unremitting abuse. I also know what is to feel like your drowning in the callous disregard of others.

This is a powerful work

[Adaeze949]

Good job. Felt like I just watched this scene. Line 26, fathers' should be father's, no ? I like how you give life to your characters.

[Lauriegirl]

Beautiful and I can feel your heart upon the page