The Purpose Of A White Crayon Poem by Abby Koning

find some godforsaken rock and sacrifice the bitterness of youth
watch
-close your eyes and see this—
The coloring child brandishing her white crayon, trying to convince
The devilish boys beside her
To trade
(for violent red, loathsome green, oozing black)
But they only snicker behind
Writhing hands

(such sorrow)
Stumbling to the sandbox, she finds a pebble
And scribbles in white
[Mea culpa…]
Snaps the crayon in two and grinds it beneath
The heels of her tennis shoes
[Mea culpa…If not, then who? ]

after the boys have gone,
lonely on a bench
She slowly licks an ice-cream cone
And cries as the meltings defile her chin