American River Review 2022 - copy - Flipbook - Page 63
I’ve Already Died, Mutherfuvk&r, What More Can You Do?
By Ali Blanco
Each scar is
a landmark,
a brushstroke,
and I’m a fuvking work-of-art.
A constellation,
a statue carved by fingernails.
You’ve never noticed this grey patch of healed skin,
that stretches from my lip to my chin.
It blends in with my face
when
I smile,
and so I can pass it off
as a line born of joy.
I smile
until the once-broken skin
is a shining,
twinkling
star
in my
complexion,
in my
person(ality).
I smile,
and I grin,
until the world can see me,
and only me,
and not the trauma
that molded me.
I smile,
and I breathe,
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