Get out..
Go Away!!
Why did I have you?
I must have been insane!
You have been nothing but trouble
from the minute you were born.
Do the dishes..
Stand on the chair..
God gave you two hands
USE THEM ..
Here is the towel to dry them!
Make sure you dry
deep in the bottom of the glass..
I am going to check..
If it's not ..
I'm going to be the lawnmower
your ass is going to be the grass.
When your done ..
Fold the clothes down stairs..
Your old enough to fold towels
you have to do your share.
Don't look at me like that!
The girl folds the towels
in the damp dark
basement looking everywhere..
Especially where she feared the most
underneath the creepy stairs.
She went into the dining room
the Mom had friends.
You can't be done already! the Mom said.
The girl just put her head down
nodded yes.
Well, then go lie down in the middle of the street
and count mufflers..
Just don't make a mess!
The girl ran outside listening to the laughter
of the Mom and her friends.
The girl knows she is not her mothers child..
Slut,
Tramp,
Bastard,
I could have aborted..
I couldn't afford it.
Your father in jail
I had no money
What could I do.
She reminds the girl
She has no worth..
She claims when the girl was born
she must have got the afterbirth..
And her real daughter is out there
somewhere..
The Mom screams.
Life is not fair..
The girl doesn't blame the Mom
for being mad ..
She just wishes Mom could
change her mind..
try to love her ...
just one time.
No...
She screams..
AFTERBIRTH AFTERBIRTH ...
The girl puts her hands
over her ears to keep out the screaming...
She does not want to hear..
It never worked ...
She wishes she could have found
a better way.
Because even after all this time ...
She still hear the echoes
in the back of her mind
AFTERBIRTH AFTERBIRTH ..
That is all
you will
ever be
worth.

Erica G Ivory