We give loving touch, kindness
To those you pushed aside as your untouchables
No matter their wheelchairs
Or colostomy bags
Their shame
We hold them close
Let them cry
Tell them they’re okay
… Somebody has to
After church your husbands come by
Fish sticker on the car bumper
Bible in the back seat
You shut down intimacy — what, ten, fifteen years ago?
Without this therapy
He would have left you
Years ago
You know that
He’s a human man
With desires for touch
Intimacy
You don’t know or you don’t care
That sex is a man’s love language
How he needs to express his soul
This way
… We listen to what you won’t hear
We save your marriages
Every goddamn day that goes by
He goes back to that cold home you make
Because of the courage he got
From our loving session
You keep your house
Your reputation
Your Sunday mornings
… We keep him from leaving you
But sometimes
His hurt, his pain, his shame
Makes him angry
… Let it breathe
You make him angry
And we…
We pay that price
… I won’t say you owe us thanks
For saving your marriage
That would be stupid, right?
You cross the street when you see us
Vote to put us in cages
Call us whores from your clean kitchen
But by God
Don’t let him come to us
With anger and pain
We’re human too
You know?
We hurt too
You know that?
You call the police on us
Campaign to “clean up the streets”
But you need us there
To do what you won’t
Keep your man human
Keep your life intact
… We’re your dirty little secret
That keeps your clean house standing
The ones with wheelchairs
Colostomy bags
The old ones, the broken ones
The ones you don’t want to touch anymore
We touch them
With kindness
Tell them they’re still okay
Still human
… Somebody has to
So here’s how it works
You pretend we don’t exist
We pretend you’re not complicit
… But when he leaves your cold bed
And comes to us
Broken
Remember —
We’re the ones who put him back together
So he can go home
… To you
So here’s how it works
… Somebody has to
… Somebody has to