If I Had a House and You Lived in It

[vc_row][vc_column][title type="subtitle-h6"]Cedar Fox[/title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="11/12"][vc_column_text]The windows____would be boarded____up by spruce and iron.[spacer height="20"]The numbers on the doorframe removed____forcing visitors to second____guess themselves________upon arrival.[spacer height="20"]The shingles____bright tangerine____to distract from the________scattered mix of trash and weeds________growing between the cracks of the asphalt yard.[spacer height="20"]In this house,____there would be no books.____Only music________mostly 90s punk.[spacer height="20"]Every beat-up cabinet and caved-in ceiling____surfaced by funhouse mirrors____that you would look at________whenever you thought________no one was looking at you.[spacer height="20"]The writing____would glean red on the walls,____but no one would read it.[spacer height="20"]Every drain,____even the garbage disposal,____clogged by your hair,________the color and texture of dried wheat.[spacer height="20"]Our bed sheets____stained by____blood and sweat________remnants of our rough and dirty habits.[spacer height="20"]Your five-year niece____would be your favorite guest____playing princesses with you for hours________while you both grin and giggle.[spacer height="20"]After she would leave,____I would ask you why____you asked me to________stop the progress________of our own little girl.[spacer height="20"]Your dresser____topped with greasy____cigarettes that you________continuously place behind________your ear, but rarely smoke.[spacer height="20"]Your short,____drunk, in-bred father____would visit and punch________holes in every wall.[spacer height="20"]You would never fill them.____Simply nail another____Goodwill painting of a________clover over the spot and pray________no one would find out what happened.[spacer height="20"]If the house ever burned,____you would lock me inside____with a toothpick________to break my way out________but I’d suffocate anyway.[spacer height="20"]I said,____“If I had a house____and you lived in it.”[spacer height="20"]What I meant____to say was,____“If you were a house.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]