Art Lessons

by Yoon Ha Lee

witches' daughters learn to draw
with blackened hearts and sharpened bones
crayons the color of curdled ambition
paper pounded to the point of ripping

witches' daughters learn perspective inside-out
and memorize the anatomy of shadows
they turn stick figures into Rorschach stains
and scribble their names outside the lines

witches' daughters learn to hide their self-portraits
and poison their still lifes with crushed smiles
of course, it's the same thing that anyone learns
growing up a woman

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Yoon Ha Lee's poetry has appeared in Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and The Magazine of Speculative Poetry. Sometimes she reads books on anatomy for artists for fun.