unfamiliarity with my skin baffles me even today

there is a bruise on my toe i just noticed

it’s old and healing and dry

wild hair sprouts from my belly button

it’s long and dark and mad

why does the mirror say i’m still the same?

the pimples of childhood have somehow vanished

there is only aftermath of scratches on my face

time has made me thick skinned, some tell me

you're fat, you're fat, you're fat, they say

imfat-imfat-imfat-imfat-imfat-imfat

is that why the photographs say i’ve changed?

i once took a mirror to the bathroom

an exercise no adult would like to hear

i opened my legs and looked right at my vagina

my labia, my clitoris, my pubic hair

i stared and i stared and i stared

why do i not find a woman there?