Mother’s Helper by Michelle Oram

Mother’s Helper by Michelle Oram

I scrubbed and scrubbed

Until the porcelain

Chipped away

from my heart

 

I hammered my head

Against the dark

Wood paneling

Until the fighting stopped

 

The chapped, slapped

Enraged face snapped

As I ran into my room

eyes slammed shut

 

I am my mother’s helper

I clean the dirt from

dark secret places

Ashes scattered in coffee

 

Pasty, broken, runny

eggs prepare me

for life’s journey

As I try and pass

 

Invisible from her wrath

Sculpted on the sofa

Once with paint brush

In hand, no more

 

As slumber erases

all dreams

The nightmares multiply

Replacing day with night

 

And night with day

pills get popped, dropped

adding to the decay

I pick up the pieces

 

I am my mother’s helper