The Walls Watch ABuse
If the walls lived with eyes—the things that they’ve seen!
If I knew they were watching, I’d surely come clean.
But I cannot admit it, not just by myself.
People never believe me without someone else.
There are windows and floorboards and doors in this house.
There are bedbugs and roaches and rodents about.
There are flowers in water, and pots on the stove,
there is food in the sink, and it’s starting to mold.
But the flowers are dying from the salt of my tears
and the broken, old cooler is filled with warm beers.
So I look at the flowers; they look at me back.
And they hear what I hear, that he’s on the attack.
If only the walls could tell people my truth,
speak upon my behalf as my personal sleuth.
for the things they have seen are the things that they hide.
And the world won’t believe when I share what’s inside.
Erin Olds is from Cleveland, Ohio and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of South Florida. She is working on an essay collection reflecting on lessons she has learned while being a twenty-first century vagabond, and poetry collection about different species of trees. Erin has released an album, American Dream, in 2020, and an EP called The Quarantine EP in the same year. In 2022, Erin was the recipient of the First Year Writing Excellence in Teaching Award. When not writing or teaching, she can be found painting murals or performing music.