Poetry

I Realize Now All the Slashes

I realize now all the slashes
I dug deeply into my flesh
The scars that I so smugly savored...
My victorious trophies,
commemorating all I have seen and survived.
All the while,
just more bars;
keeping me in and you OUT.
Look at the formation,
the line design.
Imprisoned from within
and behind the etched bars on the skin I wear.
I no longer want to give the world a reason to stare at me.

By Mara McWilliams

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These original poems are all copyrighted and may not be used without the explicit permission of the author.

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