Streaks

I painted my room when I was sixteen.
Spent weeks looking through swatches.
Salmon pink
Terracotta
Spring green
Cobalt blue
Fanning them out and telling
Mum it was decided,
"Black and shocking pink mum,
Honest"

I picked red and cream
But changed my mind
And bought
Shakespeare blue
Dove wing white

Removed the curtains
I never drew
And passed two days up a ladder
In bare feet and
An old shirt.
Paint in my hair.