Poem: Behind a Generation of Smiles by Mark Tulin/WordSwell

Many thanks to the editors at WordSwell for selecting Behind a Generation of Smiles. Featured image by Mark Tulin.

Trigger warning: This is a poem about sexual abuse.

I have two versions of this poem. I feel both have similar meanings but are told in slightly different ways. How does one word in the poem change its meaning–Generation vs. Generosity? Which poem do you prefer?

Behind a Generation of Smiles
Mark Tulin

I’ve been close to women 
with hearts broken,
kindred spirits exploited ,
who cling to splinters of hope.
In their vulnerability and rage,
they hide behind a generation of smiles.
They all have abuse in common,
lasting and permanent,
fear that rises and falls,
memories that trigger cries.
When I am with these women,
I get angry, too. 
But I know I shouldn’t fight their battles;
it only leads to victimization,
a colony of men
taking over again.
I ask myself, how can an abuser 
destroy a woman's innocence so blindly?
Why can’t they see the consequences 
of their actions?
Yet, I am drawn to these women,
to their pain wrapped in a blanket of grief,
hardship mixed with love,
a desire to run, yet fight back.