she was there
my mother
holding close to my father
and spilling words from her mouth
like water from a vase
and i am still looking at my brother sleeping
how he could rest
after today
i saw her
she just cracked, came undone
the broken parts of her spit onto my brother and i
i've never seen evil
like that day
and i was 9
my brother 7 or 8
that isn't important
but what i know
from what i can tell
is that a lot of money was lost
a lot of people were to blame
but from what i can recall
it was my brother and i that took the brunt of it
and to me
evil isn't necessarily the act
but who it comes from
my mom saying things that i had heard on rated R movies
but at me
at my brother
i have never shaken as much as i did that day.
