Beauty Marks

She’s wearing that little black dress

You said she looked so beautiful in

Though she never believed you then

She examines her body in the mirror

Bruises all over her arms; a scraped knee

She’s a mangled tigress

In a sea of picture perfect kittens

Wearing fancy party dresses

Their little bodies in tact

She doesn’t wear shoes

She can’t run in at any given moment

She examines oceans of flawlessness

Only to stare at the scar beneath her chin

The motorcycle burn on her shin

She’s earned every single stripe

She consoles herself; licking wounds

‘cause domestication’s for the tame

She always colors outside the frame

She’s learned to scan every room

For any movement resembling her own

Still she’s only met a couple with that wilderness

A few with a will too strong to harness

Like her, they’re hard to hold onto

Disappearing when the night wind blows

Endangered species learn to be unreliable

A heavy adaptation to ensure their survival

So she stalks her loneliness

Balks at the emptiness

Learns to sit still in the darkness

She seeks a hunter

Someone of her kind

Not to tame her

Not to maim her

Not to capture or contain

But maybe to see the beauty

Outside the frame

For now in her little black dress

Waiting for the night’s wind to move her

Finally believing she too, is beautiful

Through the scars and the marks

Each indicating from where she came from

And how far she’s come

After all,

Her hunter will know her

By her stripes