i don’t look like that

i wish before any of ‘me’ had started,

someone would have just warned me

that i

was never going to look

right

and

i wish someone had told me that that

was alright

sometimes i think that mirrors were just built to haunt me

i think as i grew i learnt to overcompensate

there was never enough space

for me and for my body

to breathe

guilt

tell me-

if i hold my breath for at least an hour and a half and

i (is this supposed to be here?)

if i am never seen in photographs: looking happy

will i turn into a better thing

to hold and to behold

to admire and to respect

and to love

?

are people meant to be so aware

all the time

of the way cheap fabric caresses their skin?

or of the way they just appear

unsophisticated and unpretty and unlike (is this supposed to be here/ can we cut this?)

unlikeable

are people meant to hate?

oh- this is just my face

it must be difficult to be repulsed

gross! disgusted

by

the very thing that carries you

and your brain and your heart

and your kindness

kindness! a thing they never taught you to be

to yourself.

you find yourself a stranger

to the things your friends talk about all the time

because you will never believe that any of it

was ever meant

for any of you

why don’t you ever think

that you are meant for more?

because i was taught-

that my worth was based on how i looked

i was supposed to look a peculiar way to the world

and i-

i just don’t look like that.