The Crushing Blow

War, occupation, exile, poverty,
authoritarianism, humiliation, patriarchal violence,
emotional illiteracy, intergenerational terror,
families where children were not treated as sacred,
cultures where domination disguised itself as discipline,
whole societies organized around fear...

The entire inherited unconscious storm
concentrated in the hand of an overwhelmed father
striking his toddler’s head.

An initiation into the reign of terror.
One blow, depriving him of his childhood, his youth,
his desires and needs.
His voice, his spine.

Replacing the unfolding of life
with paralyzing fear,
love with codependence,
connection with slavery.

The demon of trauma
claiming another victim.
From that day on his life, his energy, his breath
organized around the abuser.
The center abandoned and lost.