By I like having scars
Not in some masochistic way
I think they make great stories
It shows you how I made my body my own
like tigers with their stripes
each one with another design, another pattern of stripes
Battle scars from playing on the ground
From falls that gave me fears for years
From just generally growing
Almost ordinary-looking dark marks from bruises that never quite healed before their renewal
Knees with highly marked and rather sensitive thin skin from constantly getting grazed
Shins still mottled with light greens from defending friends
Crooked scars on my fingers from when I was too eager to wait for doors not to close on my hands
They show so many things and hide so many stories in them
Or constant tiny battles that I’ve won
And how I’ve grown
So many stories in these little raised lines and dark spots
So many little battles won
And so many more to gogo