Consolation Prize

The sweltering heat of hot water
mixing with dirt and grime.
Scratching and clawing at the scalp,
expecting the grease to stay away.

Illness corroding a resolve as time fades.
Wishing to shower every day,
to feel that indecisive hot and cold.
Plus the colors make it feel like home.

Grey walls line the inside,
with water running down a spine.
It's only with a turn around,
comes bitten cheeks and gasping out.

Flakey caked into the skin.
Scratching pulling pushing down,
sliding gliding flicking a wrist.
Manipulating the shiny metal.

Encase everything in viscous red,
as hands scrub and rough the skin.
Drying off and feeling floaty.
Surroundings become an irritated pink.