Saturn's Valentine

It was my father
who first taught me
to steal
by never leaving me
any lunch money
so I had to tiptoe
past him every morning
to rifle his pants
thrown over a chair
or slipped down on
the floor that
naked man on
the bed drunk
next to my mother
about whom I cared
as little as he did me
my first experience
of fear and shame
so crushed down
himself.