Purity | Madison Culpepper

I grab a bottle of soap
and a new sponge
then lock myself
in the bathroom.
I drop to my knees,
next to the mold
that creeps up
the sides of the tub.

I attempt to scrub
at the black stain
that has made a home
here but it resists,
stuck in the cracks.
Spray then scrub
scrub then spray.
Yet nothing changes.

Last month
I sat in my bedroom
surrounded by stuffed animals
that smelled of detergent
watching TV until sunrise
when my mom finally caught me
and told me to go to bed.

I return to the blackness
and attack with my sponge.
I ignore the tears dragging
down my cheeks,
the smell of chemicals
invading my nose,
and I look away to breathe.

Madison Culpepper is a senior at CCSU. She has won two silver keys and one gold key in the Scholastic Writing awards and hopes to publish a poetry book someday.

Header Photo Courtesy of Depositphotos