Tattoos are one-sided
skin-sketched ink
revealing
what you want the world to see
but your Scars illustrate your true identity
life’s narrative engraved in blood
revealing our stories
secrets
exposed memories
insecurities
our previous vulnerabilities
hardening
turned rugged and fierce
Evoking fear, in sworn enemies
fantasizing our friends
worrying our families
seducing our lovers
compelling them
like a radiant summer
on Eden’s tide
I still struggle
to reveal mine
etched on my body
a grunge canvas
pinpointing mistakes
and failures
My Right Leg-
Permanently scraped
after a shattered femur
Left Elbow-
Singed with road rash
Left Arm-
A blotch of cancer
cut out of me
But that’s only the surface
beneath it
in the depths
is what haunts me the most
my deepest secret
ingrained in the amygdala
carved into my back
by a blade
signed and sealed
an eternal reminder:
Never turn to the streets
in a time of need