universal acid

my father was a

veterinarian

a lazy one at that

 

and when I was born

he simply stood by and

watched as my mother

circumcised me

with a carrot peeler

 

the trauma left its mark so to speak

 

mom and dad split up when I was five

she ran off with the butcher's wife

he patented universal acid

a liquid that no container can hold

we don’t talk much these days

and the earth is slowly dissolving

Reviews

[. serah .]

-- i just read out this incredibly vivid, poignant and powerful piece of writing to my mother... and right after i reached the concluding lines... i said... "my father has 'patented universal acid' too"... she lapsed into silence for quite a few minutes... and i recounted some recent incidents and some from my childhood... and told her that i always knew there was something terribly wrong with his mind... -- i can't think of anyone who is as hurtful as him... -- sometimes, when we read a poem, we feel our voice has been heard... and we derive solace from the experience... -- right now is one such moment... -- thank you for writing this piece...

[Eilis]

I think about this, if it’s worse to be the watcher or the actor. The silent observer who does not stop the pain makes sometimes more of an impression than the one who hurts. Because the sense of our own value grows ever more diminished when others see us being hurt but don’t care to stop the damage, the pain.

I think some things require savage or bare-faced words/images to wake up the mind to the actuality. Sometimes a detailing of the generalities of cruelty is not enough to convey the gravity. Trauma keeps us in a tight grip. And often when we are able to let something go the release is as mysterious as the inception of the grip. Sometimes our bodies/minds are all that is powerful enough to hold the acid. And that is never a good thing.

The ways in which we (humans) punish one another—whether knowingly or unknowingly—is one thing I walk away with here. The innocent and vulnerable are often the ones who pay the highest price. The iciness of generational trauma is strong for me here. But also the question of responsibility and how much the bystander bears. These things are never simple which is perhaps the hardest part.

[SkinlessFrank]

The guilt of the observer is something that was probably not originally on my mind when I wrote this piece. But I have thought about it since then, and whether the guilt grew like a cancer and whether it may have consumed the observer. It makes me wonder how Alice Munro dealt with her own guilt. As a writer she was sensitive, but what about the person?

I appreciate your perceptive remarks. Surreal images and darker humour can help make things clearer in a purging sort of way. I think many comedians have discovered that it helps connect their own experiences with those of their audiences.

[Eilis]

I did read about Alice Munro not long ago. I remember when she won the Nobel prize in literature and you contrast the two things and it is hard to reconcile them. It’s difficult to separate the inner person from the outer one. The public persona from the private deeds. I imagine every observer processes and rationalizes their decisions differently. These things are so complex.

[AYVID N]

A universal and long lasting acid. The earth feels like its still dissolving for me, at times. I related only too well to your words. Mine hit me in my thigh with a kitchen knife when I was three. Still have the keloid there. I forgave her for it because at three years of age, I was an older, wiser soul than her. But I don't forget. This poem is so graphic and hits home hard. A brilliant metaphor in the acid.

[SkinlessFrank]

Sorry to hear about that. I think I finally found the container. Sending you healing wishes.

[AYVID N]

Thanks a lot. 🙋‍♀️

[M. Shepherd]

Shock poetry is at its best situated in unadulterated, ambivalent truth, which this undoubtedly is. A damn carrot peeler, good lord. The fact of it sells itself.

I also love the sort of casual dismissive tone you use to mention these searing, personal truths, while coorelating the planet's immutable entropy to your personal and familial entropy - a staggering parallel.
and how the fact of your father's invention is a perfect metaphor.

[Filipe Magalhães]

This poem is dry, arid, corroding. These characteristics synchronizes with the pain you try to present to us. The main metaphor stablish connection between "acid", the hurts of your "poetic me" and the failure in most of human relationship nowadays.

[Renée]

Traumatized...that is the first thing that popped into my head.. Powerful, visual write Mr. Frank

[Urja Gokani]

' ..he patented universal acid - a liquid that no container can hold.. '

Seems a train of thought from childhood to.. wherever you're going next. That last phrase points to more than personal ... more than trauma and a befuddled awareness of what was done never truly leaves.. tis an ironic squirm of thoughts dissolving and juggled, methinks. But, then, am often wrong.

[Emily B]

I know a young vet, found a dead deer in his driveway, his dad asked are you sure it is dead, he came back with I studied dead

we are what we study, we are the thing we write in the line beside occupation, we are what our parents make us

sometimes we are more even than that

[...]

because you are a scientist, I'm gonna review this scientifically :) Keep in mind that substances at either end of the pH spectrum can be corrosive, but, if you combine these substances they neutralize. They balance because they are opposite ends of the scale. So, if the mind is bottle of apple cider vinegar (with the mother) then let your heart be a life time supply of milk magnesia :)

[emmajoy]

' ..he patented universal acid - a liquid that no container can hold.. '

Seems a train of thought from childhood to.. wherever you're going next. That last phrase points to more than personal ... more than trauma and a befuddled awareness of what was done never truly leaves.. tis an ironic squirm of thoughts dissolving and juggled, methinks. But, then, am often wrong.