Run Down – Hannah Rousselot

At the end of my street there is a house

where I can peel off the outer walls

and twirl the paint curls around my fingers.

It has gaping eyes where windows should be;

shutters (decoration for an empty box)

that aren’t the same color as the walls surrounding them.

The house sticks out on my street

like a mole on your face or a sore thumb

or like the time my mother turned to me

with salty cheeks and said, “I love you.”

Hannah Rousselot is a queer DC based poet. Her work has appeared in Panoply, Ecletica Magazine, and Voices and Visions magazine. She is also a second grade teacher.