Tonight I notice a brand new set

Of stretch marks, running red and jagged and angry

Across my thighs

My tiger stripes, my battle scars, but they

Will only ever be ugly to me

I can’t stand the touch: the raised skin, a shudder of disgust

An embossed card

With none of the elegance, instead the message—

I don’t fit into my own body anymore

The more I struggle with the number

The higher it gets

The smaller the gap shrinks;

The gap closes.

And I daydream of tattooing Shame

Across those tired lightning lines

So they’ll stop the rain coming