While he painted her face
with different tones of blue
blotches of purple’s many shades
interrupted by dripping red
clear lines streaming down
Jakayla was here
assisting Crayola in creating her own utopia
Covering white walls with friendly horses
she could ride far away from here
and teddy bears
who would wipe away all her tears
Gardens of flowers
that made blues, purples, and reds gorgeous
like their brightness was a response
to the Carolina cardinals singing in the morning
While he shaved her head
without a razor
then used wine-stained carpets
to brush her hair
shards of glass to comb it
Jakayla was here
While screams bellowed
from the pit of her stomach
without a word
shouting to the masses
that being beaten by the man you love
is more painful than childbirth
Jakayla was here
still trying to find calm among their chaos
adding trees and clear skies
hoping that somewhere
she could find the face of God
trying to imagine a different life
Soon she’d give up on the power of crayons
While her mother’s body whispered
without a word
just limp limbs
eyes swollen shut
tears dried
and subtle groans
that she was now numb to his fists
and tired of struggling again and again
Jakayla was here
and so she wouldn’t get in trouble
she Mr. Cleaned every dream off the wall
It was in that moment
the tears began to fall
Jakayla was here
in a make-shift asylum
she made the white pillow
absorb her snot-filled sobs
so they wouldn’t bounce off the
white walls of the clothes-less closet
So he wouldn’t hear her
But somehow he did
While he stumbled up the stairs
His body bouncing back and forth
Leaning, tripping, stumbling
Getting closer and closer
Jakayla was here
chipping paint
first the J
then the a
By the time she got to spelling here
there he was
He bent her over
pressed her head against the door so hard
it left an indent
Jakayla was here
His sweaty palms pushed her lower
fingernails scratching walls on the way down
New marks made
Jakayla was here
Now laying on the ground
trying to distract herself from the hurt
of body parts being manipulated to stretch
in ways they had never done before
She wrote it again
Jakayla was here
In so many ways
Jakayla is still there