yellow
                                                  used to be my favorite color
                                      i could live
                                                         within its warmth.

                                  but our kitchen was green:
                                 green and white
                                                      wallp­apered stripes.

                and those stripes
                                 weren't warm--
                                              they were filled
                                                                ­    with pain and hate.

      my mother
                               tired from the cold,
                           tore down
                             down!
                                          that ugly
                                                                ­    kitchen wallpaper.

                        clawing at the walls
                        she broke it
                                     into bits.

              yellow paint
                                       then filled the walls;
                                                         a promise of a change.

                                 but like all good things,
                             yellow too
                                                  seemed to fade.

                      my little kitchen,
                               are you why
                                      yellow
                ­                                      now brings
                                                                ­ me pain?