My hands are not as smooth
as those white manicured hands in magazines
and as smooth as a baby's bottom
my skin never seems
my little toe has a corn on it
and my heels blister sometimes
and no matter what creams I use
I can't erase the laugh lines
my back aches at the end of a long day
and sometimes my smile wears a little thin
my body's full of scars and marks
that tell the story of where I've been
My eyebrow has a part
I got when I was four
I was jumping off the couch
and hit the table before I hit the floor
my knees are a palette in progress
started before my wandering's had even begun
and I hope I'm still working on it
when I turn one hundred and one.
My left elbow has a lightning bolt scar
from 8 stitches when I was five
I didn't jump far enough away from the dock
when I tried my very first belly-flop dive
My back has a fairy tattoo
from when I turned eighteen
I got it with my best friend
the day after she was named prom-queen.
my thigh has a speckled birthmark
up high on the inside
I used to hate that blemish
now I sport a bikini with pride.
Perfection will never knight me
but despite the flaws people see
who I am is true to myself,
and perfect's not really a mark that I need.
