Artist's Masterpiece
They didn't consider him
To be an artist
Because they weren't aware
Of the water colors
He brushed onto his cheeks
When he was alone
He hid in his father's filthy shadow
Raised to follow
In the abuser's footsteps
The man who he called father
Considered him to be
Nothing more than an apprentice
He grew up watching his father
Stain his mothers body
Until he helped
Hang her beautiful frame
In the master bedroom closet
These haunted images
Followed him to art school
Reached out from his nightmares
To paint themselves on the page
She was a blank canvas
Before he spotted her innocence
In the lit up store window
He never let her forget
The service he'd done for her,
By snatching her from the shelves
He decorated her with
Pastel tears and acrylic blood
Coloring her once white body
A bold Crimson
She was his abstract beauty
A work of art with deeper
Meaning under her canvas
Of bruises and scars
She felt confident
As his brush stroke words
Covered her insecurities
With a thin coating of reassurance
She hung on his walls
The frame concealing yet
Broadcasting her beauty
For all to see
She was his masterpiece
Because to him
The only beautiful thing
In this world must be broken
His oily signature resides on the
Bottom right corner of her ankle
This mark of ownership
Forever binding her to
Her abusive artist
But she couldn't help
Missing the delicious freedom
Of a life lived in solitude
And no amount of varnish
Could have prevented
The damage caused by
The water colors running
Down her cheeks each night
And his excuses of not wanting
To get his smock dirty
Made her long for his touch
He offered untold riches
Presented her at art galas
And refused to auction her off
Claiming she was
Too beautiful to share
And at first
She believed him
But it's only a matter of time
Before she hangs herself
In the master bedroom closet
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