House of Black and Blue

A vacant lot, a chain link fence                           

I haven’t been back to Orange Street since      

Mama spun our Chevy away                               

Gravel flyin’ down the long driveway                

Tire swing twistin’ in the arms of a tree            

White lace curtains wavin’ back at me             

Two hands on the wheel, nails ragged and chewed

Good-bye to the house of black and blue         

House of black and blue   

Part of me still lives in you

A bird with broken wings

Can’t fly away  

House of black and blue  

Now your bones are broken too

The dust of all your dreams

Just swept away

I cut my teeth on whiskey’s breath           

Hidin’ in the haze of their cigarettes    

I taught myself how to smell a lie            

I’ll know that stench ‘til the day I die            

Lightnin’ bugs glowin’ in a mayonnaise jar   

Strugglin’ to be free but can’t get far    

Curled up in covers pulled around my ears  

Whisperin’ a prayer to disappear   

House of black and blue  

I keep touching these old wounds

These pieces of the past    

You seem to own  

House of black and blue   

That voice in the dark is you  

Gone but not forgiven   

A ghost called home 

© 2016 Donna Shelton