Tommy boy

tacky, clinging to chubby digits

clumped beneath crusted 

fingernails not quite bitten down

stuck to scratched plastic 

and stained leather

a blank canvas for creation

little hands smudged beasts 

on mama’s brand-new pillows

and when large, calloused hands rip greased toys from your clutches

to force your art from the crevices of your fingers and shout

and you can’t help but wonder what you did 

that was so terrible

About the Author

Olive Hannigan is a senior Arts and Global Change major at Arcadia University. She enjoys writing speculative fiction and has recently delved into poetry, and hopes to bring her long-abandoned Tumblr blog back to life. When she's not writing, she's drawing fanart of her favorite games/shows, playing dress-up, or wrangling her niece and many nephews.