Good Touch Bad Touch
A poem

He hugged her often Pinched her cheeks Until they turned red How they hurt
But she laughed heartily The happy unbridled laughter Of an innocent child Who knows no evil
She longed to be held by him Lifted up, thrown high in the air Caught deftly, oh that tickled She shrieked with laughter, like tinkling bells
She felt comforted in his touch Warm, secure, loved The touch of a caring hand A Good Touch, though she didn’t know it then
And then there was the other man Who arrived every Sunday To help with some chores And hung about the house all day
He too hugged her And pinched her cheeks But she always cried Her breath caught and face turned red
She hated his touch, a Bad Touch Though she didn’t know it then He touched her in strange places Where no one else did
She could not explain this How could she She could barely string a sentence together yet But she did what she could Screamed loudly when he came close
Mommy always came quickly and saved her Pulled her away from his clutches Every time mommy saved her She heard him laugh A wicked, evil laugh that made her want to cry
She is much older now She knows Good Touch and Bad Touch She looks at herself back then And marvels at how she knew Even as a child, with all her innocence
She is glad mommy was there to save her Each time, without fail But she breaks down when she thinks of those days
There was no one to save mommy No one was there to help her mommy From the Bad Touch of the bad man
Kids are supposed to be sensitized by their parents towards good touch and bad touch. Not all kids have access to this education though. Consider some poor families where single moms have to bring up their kids. These moms have to go through all kinds of oppression to provide for their kids and give them two meals a day.
In such circumstances, many predatory men use the opportunity and the dire needs of these single moms to their advantage. There are many stories of such brave women who offered themselves up in order to provide for their kids.
