Smacked for my ever first drawing
A depiction of a Cephalopd on my bedroom wall
I shared the pale blue room with my twin
Cribs adjacent
A marker taken out of the grips of my clinging little finger tips
As my brother watched the beginning of my art career fail
PAINT OVER, PAINTED OVER ME
Locked mom out of the house as I colored the walls with oily red lipstick
And the porcelain blue and white lamp too
Bang, bang on the door
Bang, bang on the window
And “Watch me, mom- destroy the integrity of the walls”
My lipstick utensil taken out of the palm of my sweaty, but bigger hands
PAINT OVER, PAINTED OVER ME
In a hospital bed, hot
Face pressed up the cool bars of the frame
Trouble breathing, trouble sleeping, trouble eating
Sick 4 year old infantile
PAINT OVER, PAINTED OVER ME
Hamsters that bites and eat their kin
Tiny blood spatters inside the dirty glass tank
Belvidere Hotel, tasting Budweiser and watching Jaws with Dad
Throwing half eaten peaches down the toilet
Clogged
Waiting for the Plumber
Mom is cooking pre-made stuffed clam shells
Stubbed and skinned atop the big toe
Chasing Rollie Pollie bugs on the cracked hotel pavement
Just in the heat of summer’s end
We found ourselves in a Blue Cobalt and Fire Hydrant House
Chicken Pox and a stranger sleeping over telling me to get out of my mother’s room
PAINT OVER, PAINTED OVER ME
It’s night, in the doorway stands a Three Headed Sumo Wrestler
Then he is walking into my room
Lights still on
Hiding under Rainbow Purple Unicorn Cloud covers, keep me safe until tomorrow
He disappears & reappears
Stranger said, “You can’t paint the house in your pretty pink dress, honey.”
PAINT OVER, PAINTED OVER YOU
Original painting on a wall by Moriah M. Mylod c. 2017