I can still remember the day that my mom and I stopped looking alike

That Friday came and stood right in between what we had together

Sweet ugly and that fact that we were both dying right on the edge of life

Well that’s until that day someone offered her the option of living

And like a fool, she jumped at the opportunity of life and beauty over me

So jealousy sunk in like an unwanted cancer that my body refused to expel, causing my heart to be blackened

And for the four years that followed, the bitter taste of death and the itch to kill never left me

I just wanted someone, anyone to feel what it’s like to live like me

But no, none of them were ever worth this glory

So instead, I spilled black blood upon white skies with blue clouds that resembled claw marks

As if someone on the other side was trying to get through to me

But all I had to offer them was this black blood, so that would have to suffice for the both of us

And it did

And if felt good, real good, to write

So this became an everyday game of catch, where I would splatter this blood upon their white skies and they were always so happy to catch it

Until I began to run out of blood

I was losing

I was leaving myself just as everyone else had already done

But that’s when they broke through to me

And offers me the option of living

And like a fool, I jumped at the opportunity of life and beauty

Now my mom and I look alike again

Because I too can now say

That poetry saved my life