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HOME STRANGE HOME Doug Arnold Reading PA |
HOME STRANGE HOME Home is the place from which my parents only reluctantly let me out. They warned me of careless drivers who would hit me. Polio lurking on the most innocent breath or touch. My splintered bones anxious to poke through my skin on the playground. Yet, when occasionally I was let out on parole, my favorite sport was dashing in front of moving cars, not realizing then that the brakes' screaming was coming from my parents' throats. My mother wanted to wear me forever like a charm on a bracelet; my father was always poorly navigating a hangover, and I was a threatening true north, pointing away from an illness that gave him comfort. Now I see my home was a mirror, showing not my parents protecting me, but rather reflecting my mother and father protecting themselves from their only child. Doug Arnold [Return to Psychopoetica home page] ©The contents of this page are copyright protected.
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