Exoskeletons for Children
Squalloscope Lyrics

Your home taught me to smile wide
I learned to fake a happy demeanor in your house

And show all my teeth
I was expected to always appear cheerful and agreeable in your home

Display anything vaguely sugary
I was encouraged to act sweet and constantly display a pleasant facade

Your home is a churning in the stomach
Being in your house causes me anxiety and unease

An unrest in the chest
Your home causes me emotional turmoil and discomfort

Your home is straight out of central casting
Your home conforms to the stereotypical image of a typical American suburban house

There is a lot of space (a lot of space) for mediocre white men
Your home seems to cater to the interests and comfort of average white men

You are sharpening our picket fence
You are reinforcing the barriers around our home

You say it's to defend ourselves
You justify fortifying our home by claiming it is for our protection

The family room is like a lion's mouth
Being in the family room makes me feel vulnerable or in danger

I like what you did with the place
I appreciate the interior design choices you have made in our home

You really made it ours
You have created a space that feels truly personal and unique to us

We live in a haunted house of mirrors
Our home is filled with distorted realities and uncertainties

I pay good money for my room
I invest a significant amount of resources to have my own personal space in our home

I pay in blood for this womb
I endure physical pain and suffering as a result of being in this house

But I tiptoe through my own kitchen
I feel a sense of hesitance and unease even in the most familiar parts of my own home

There are scary things around
There are things that cause me fear and discomfort in our home

Wearing human costumes
These frightening things in our home are disguised or hidden behind a facade of normalcy

Let's build exoskeletons for children
We need to create a protective shield for children to feel safe and secure

Let them know we got their backs
We need to reassure children that they have our support and protection

Let them know we got their noses
We will defend and protect everything about them, even the smallest parts

Till they crack
We will never falter in protecting them, even if it means sacrificing ourselves

So, I am building a brand new ruin
I am creating a new space that will eventually fall apart or become a source of pain

And what you've been doing?
What have you been doing while I work on this new project?

That year I spent all summer on bloody knees
I suffered greatly to accomplish something important to me during that year

Taking pebbles from graves
I took something valuable or significant from a place of death or sorrow

Tangled up in possibilities
I was overwhelmed with different options and paths to choose from

Getting the ringing in my ears engraved
The noise and chaos around me are permanently affecting me

And once you open your eyes it's hard to unsee
Once you become aware of something, it is difficult to forget or ignore

(Stains stains stains are everywhere)
There are constant reminders of negative or painful experiences in our surroundings

There's significance in stabbing someone with a pencil
Even small, seemingly insignificant actions can have weight and meaning

There's ignorance in every brick of the home
Our home is filled with elements of ignorance or lack of awareness

There's brilliance in the unsentimental
There is intelligence or creativity in being objective and unemotional