Zoom
In to my face.
Closer.
See the colours on my skin
The mingled hues so diverse that form the tone of my complexion
From a distance.
My complexities are neutralised by the distance from which they are viewed.
Zoom in
Closer.
See the fine pores and pale hairs
That lie on the surface of the ***** that is
Skin.
Just so today
And tomorrow
Metamorphosised by new cells that multiply and those that die.
Zoom in
Closer yet
And that surface now
Is unrecognisable
That picture now
A poster
One hundred feet in height and paper thin.
A surface with no depth.
Walk through it
To the night beyond
With all its stars
The ones you see and strain to see and those beyond
And know who
And what
We are.

I am not some bug to be kept in a jar
Just so you can tap the glass
And watch me squirm around.
I managed to worm my way out
From under your bloated thumb
And metamorphosised
From the fragile moth
With the wings you pulled off
Time
And time again
Into something
With a backbone
That will bite that hand that feeds her
If it's joined to the mouth
That fed poison into her ears
In the manner
Of Claudius,
(Shakespeare’s infamous snake-tongued king of stolen crown),
Causing her skin to
Rot and
Fester
With every
Wayward glance at
Her reflection.
The mouth
That hid blows
In honeyed words;
Every nearly-aced report card
And shiny new “Participant” ribbon
Met with
“That’s great.
But,
You could do better.”
You laid eggs
Of doubt and anxiety
So deep in my brain
I may keep discovering them until
The world drowns in endless void, and
My new spine turns to dust.

k.f.