Stained Suburbia

What I do. What I feel.

I make my bed

between a 

daydream and a 

heart attack.

How things can move so slowly

and still pass me by.

It must be clean

for the cleaners to 

clean it.

Plates I cannot

eat off.

Pillows I cannot

sleep on.

White linen I cannot

touch.

White granite 

for counter tops.

I cannot

make 

a stain.

I cannot abstain

from leaving my mark

or so I try 

to tell her.

I am a person.

I am alive.

I am, by nature, a paintbrush

leaving mess and magic 

behind me.

It is natural, 

it is human,

to leave a bit behind.

To leave your mothers

blood on the sheets

or your books on the carpet

or your bones in the casket.

What will one stain

make me,

mother?

I know so much

about cleaning up messes.

You never taught me 

how to make the ones

that count.

She said,

Scrub harder. 

I did. 

I scrubbed my existence from the floorboards,

washed my clothes of my scent, 

wiped my reflection off the mirror.

The maids made sure I finished my job,

And choked me with the gardening hose.

They buried me beneath the tulips,

and built a new porch on top.

Sleek, white stone.

With not one stain.

Author's Note

This wasn't planned so I'm sorry for the lack of structure I'm just word-vomiting.

Reviews

[Crowley]

That was excellent for word vomiting. Intense and anxious language that lend to the desperate tone of piece. Well paced and a slam dunk ending. The stanza about the maids was very well written especially. Excellent work!

[C.E.M.]

Thank you! Anxious is my middle name lol! :)

[emipoemi]

The best kinds of poems often come unplanned. With this, despite the lack of seamless transitions, every stanza - every single one - harbours a world of interpretation.....and the way it all comes together at the end is sublime. I cannot decide which lines I adore more, for they all blew me away. I would say maybe make the transitions a little more comprehensible, but I'm worried that would ruin all the magic. After all, the main theme is "stained"/"cleanliness", so the fact that the it's simply word-vomit about those themes adds to the "stained"/"messy" factor of the whole piece. I'm in awe!! Well done!

[C.E.M.]

Thank you for everything

[emipoemi]

my pleasure.

[David Elijah]

lmao i haven't heard of "word-vomiting" before. the lines "I know so much about cleaning up messes. You never taught me how to make the ones that count" just killed me :o this poem has a great concept

[C.E.M.]

Truly was some good old word vomit. Just writing down whatever comes into my head, no structure, no plan; just feelings. That's some word vomit.