i am worthy of love with hair on my legs and in a tangled mess on my head no longer bleached from root to tip my clothes are softer now and so am i finally accepting the fullness of my radiant little heart i know i will love you in every deep belly breath a lesson learned, my tummy does not need to be tormented for me to merit kindness and affection
i tell the girl child inside me that she deserves the whole world and watch her blue eyes flash with unfettered delight freckles like sparkles across her face neither of us can tolerate the thick mask of makeup construction of false femininity i am eleven and crying in a church bathroom, a rough paper towel smearing mascara around my cheeks wondering why we are hiding from our truth
Originally published in Poems for Pandemic, available for purchase on Amazon.
