Family Is Like Two Pieces of Tape

*Sensory Detail Post*

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Your voice is burning toast,

It’s aroma filling my head with smokey doubts.

And flaking the crumbs of your abuse

On my white shirt,

A blackened compliment meant only to manipulate.

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Your temper is a metal spoon in the microwave,

Silent as the heat around you builds.

Until you spark a fire to burn my self esteem.

Because you’re anger is never your fault.

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Your tears are drops of tar,

Scorching your face in a sticky sweat.

They’re proof of the mockery you feel,

Evidence you display for everyone to see

To watch as they mutilate your perfect image.

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Your guilt is a leaking faucet,

Spilling out the regret faster than it can come,

Neer built up enough to feel the highest degree.

Everything just goes down the drain,

Racking up the water bill of apologies.

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Your love is a broken umbrella,

Caught by the wind too many times

So that it’s branches turned inward,

Too preoccupied by it’s own injuries to shelter anyone but you.

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My pain is the rock you skipped six times,

Denying it’s existence each time the water ripples.

Until you cast it so far off,

It sunk to the bottom of the ocean, plastered in salt and bitterness.

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Our love is a charred heart plated in gold.

Our hands are frozen claws wrapped in irritation.

Our language is formed from 2 dialects so similar

That emotions are misinterpreted as attention seekers.

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We are a mouthful of sweet with a bitter aftertaste,

An oxymoron God placed on the gameboard.

He smiles down on us, enjoying the paradox.

Because family is like two pieces of tape,

Once they stick, they can never become separated again.

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-The Splintered Pencil