i am chalk

Dusty and dry

All the colors look the same 

To me.

Pastels, all pretty

And pinkish

Scratchy as I 

Smear it 

Across the pavement.

No matter

How hard I try

Everything I make

Turns out dull.

The harder I press

The more it snaps

In my hands.

Wobbly, wonky lines

My knees hurt,

Dug in by pine

Needles

Littering the 

Ground.

Cracked concrete

Powdery prints

Of a child’s hands

On my black skirt.

A dead

Evergreen

That’s never

Even green anymore

Tilting to the wind.

The chalk in my hand

Marks at the trunk.

One girl yells at me

She says I’m hurting the tree

But the tree is dead.

Its branches are 

Dusty and dry

It’s pine

Needles 

Dug into my knees.

She takes my chalk

And runs off with it.

I looks down at my hands. 

They are mucked with the 

Dust

And I press them

To the trunk

Of the never green

Evergreen tree.

Powdery prints

Of a child’s hands.

My skirt is pastel

And dull,

A rainbow of colors

That all look the same

To me.

Reviews

[Shownashappening]

Absolutely love this!
I'm not yet in any position to be able to offer any constructive criticism with much merit behind it so I can only suggest playing with tense to feel out differences of tone and images conveyed, eg: My knees hurt, digging into pine needles that litter the ground..

This isn't a suggestion to change anything by the way, more a way to inject an exploration into what you're making an active image and one more reflective.

Sorry to fluff on, in short: Loved it, definitely reeled me in and kept me in it's clutches till the end.

[Sams]

Thank you so much!