To hear this poem read aloud with commentary by the author,
ELEGY TO MY SKIN
:::
she soaked pushpins
in peroxide
sharpened flames into needles
palpated the mirror for hidden scalpels
an expert in blood-letting
in covering
the infection-soaked tissues
that filled
the waste basket
she hid her surgical hours
beneath her bedsheets
each flipped pillowcase a confession
:::
feel the humps and beneath them
feel the follicles interred
feel the forehead
firm and enflamed
with fingers that
feel each hillock and crater
then prod till they can be seen too
a crowning mountain range
tectonic brows
sulphur caked
like years
of neglected tartar
:::
perched welts
perky and puffed like warm nipples
they seeped apple juice
they dried into doilies
of skin and scabs
the depth of drywall screws
they puckered the forehead
like ichthyosis
dehydrated and accustomed
to flaky cigarette breaks
scrape off
scoop out
those moguls
with fingernails grimy from sebum and steam
:::
if they healed over pink
they didn't scar
but turn any other color
and they were cancer-bound
like sunburn
is this a new one
or is it just scar tissue
from all the ones
before it