I draw lines down my cheek--

One, two, three--

And then splash blue,

That wonderful, deep, shadowy-bright blue,

And swirling in purple from the velvet night, and

Green from the sea that races itself

To eternity.

That all down one side, and one eye

Gleaming the violet of my hanging jewel.

Zebra's stripes against the turqoise and amethyst,

Mine unique, limitless, a protection and symbolic.

Tear lines on the other side.

I look, one, two minutes--

My own asymmetry terrifies me.

I'm so used to within-the-lines.

The only way is to keep going.

My soul is not symmetrical.

There are thunderclouds behind me,

Terrifying and wonderful.

Ivy rips through my skin, growing over me,

The wild side that's too strong to destroy me.

I draw dragons's tails

In that flame orange that's impossible.

I draw hanging gears

To remind me that I'm only mortal.

No robot. There is no metal grinding in me,

No perfection. Perfection turns out

To be only fear.

I draw moons and stars and planets

From some far-away galaxy

Or another reality.

I draw the splash

As one drop of purity

Becomes one with millions of others.

I draw my heart

And I trace courage onto my skin.

War paint. I don't hide behind it;

Instead, I come out from myself.

I am myself.

I am a warrior. I am strong. And savage.

And I am me as a thousand words

Shattered fragments, sharp-edged bits and pieces of me

That are so small

But there are so many.

And they are already broken.

They are stronger.

I am stronger.

There is no more breaking for me.

I must be at quark level by now;

There shall be no more colliding.

I am unstable, but as far as I know,

I'm as completely one as anything.