Classic Poem

upstairs, my uncle relived his boyhood,
looking from the garret window
to the tree he had been tied to
and into the corners of the yard
where his impulses formed

he drove us to the pond
by the frozen reservoirÐÐ
my brother became pallid
as animals do when divining pain,
and we clambered out of the cab toward him

we undressed in a snowbank
waiting for him to break the ice--
he circled around, motioning to me

I conjoined with his hammer
poised over the immutable sheen,
though I was only a boy
and could barely anticipate
the future blows of initiation and affection