I stand
Maybe four years old
At the top of a neighbour's

basement stairs
the dark chasm below my little toes,

Having been told,
"Don't go down there today."
When I hear from the depths
my name is being called--

I got molested in that basement.
On that very day.

How do we teach children
to be curious
when adults

will act out their
own hurts on them?

How do we teach adolescents
that some risk is a sign
of intelligence?

That risks have different species?

How do I teach myself
not to project
those basement stairs

Like an old vacation photo:
faint light onto their bored faces?

*

Do we let our shock moments
sleep like male lions
only to feed in the dark
on that night's hunt,
conducted by our conscious selves?

In daylight, are we
oblivious to how it feeds on our progress?
Or do we wake the beast up?
The sooner, the more complete
the recovery?

Have you ever tried
to wake a sleeping lion
on a hot summer day
at the zoo?

It is not easily done,
without bait.