Embarrassment

Dear Brother,

My so-called seditious

Non-Christian behavior

Was innocent—

I never swore!

Coarse words like butt

Mother could not ignore

I knew this yet somehow

Wound up out the door.

“How are classes,” she’d asked.

“Like the kids on your floor?”

“One’s a dildo,” I shrugged,

Recalling a bore.

“What’s that?” She choked.

“Don’t say a word more.”

I flashed the disdain only

Freshman girls wore.

“It’s just what we call

An idiot times four:

A duffus, a dolt, a nitwit…”

Did she mutter, “Whore!”

Confused at this turn

From sweetness to war

I snapped a Goodbye

Cataloguing my score.

When told the true meaning,

I blushed to my core.

I’m not sure I am welcome

At home, anymore.