Why couldn\u2019t he handle it?
\nI knew he couldn\u2019t
\ndeep down I knew
\nbut, I didn\u2019t <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the kind of thing
\nyou tell about on
\nyour first date
\nbut still<\/p>\n
I knew but I didn\u2019t think he
\nI thought he couldn\u2019t
\nhe didn\u2019t ask
\ndidn\u2019t say <\/p>\n
anything but \u2018Oh wow\u2019 I
\ncould take but then
\n\u2018oh wow\u2019
\nbecame \u2018Oh\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Oh\u2019 then dissolved into
\nsilence even his
\nbreathing just
\nsaid \u2018oh\u2019<\/p>\n
Neither of us could
\nhang up
\nthe damn phone
\njust \u2018Oh\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not even sure
\neither of us
\nsaid goodbye
\ncouldn\u2019t<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t even do it
\nI didn\u2019t kill anyone
\nmy mother
\ndid<\/p>\n
in self-defense
\nprotecting
\nme, from dad
\nme, us<\/p>\n
All he could say
\nwas \u2018Oh\u2019
\neven my mom
\nliked him<\/p>\n
She knows why he
\ncouldn\u2019t \u2013 not
\nwouldn\u2019t
\ncould not<\/p>\n
But I don\u2019t <\/p>\n
At least, that\u2019s what
\nI have resolutely
\ntold myself
\nfor forty years<\/p>\n
that she wrote in
\nher diary.
\nIt would all be the
\ntruth<\/p>\n
because, God knows
\nall I could say by
\nthen was
\n\u2018Oh.\u2019<\/p>\n