touch my purple shades of pain
cramped inside my room
green pigments of slimy shame
hide in my coccoon.

watercolor rainbows
deeper in each teardrop wept,
black seeps in on pseudo-sleeper
where's the flashlight kept?

swollen belly painted yellow,
finger dabs some on;
bluest eyes ever seen
blink and poof! they're gone.

pinkest heart to ever beat -
snatched out by its roots;
reddest rage from head to feet,
leaking blood from boots.

H
U
E
S
of
A
B
U
S
E

brown as leather belt that mutes,
I am just a child.
on my legs he wails a few;
hard to sit for a while.

still no greys between my smiles
pasted on at whim.
pastel monkey in denial
on a crooked limb.

rock the cradle, ain't she cute?
white as virgin snow.
hurry up and cover the truth
so no one will ever know.

©1992