Please, my darling
Never forget you
Are art.
Do not forget this
When you begin to dislike
Your reflection in the mirror
Or when the boys mistake
Your canvas for
A bed.
Do not others who won’t paint
You with delicate colors into
Your life,
Know their streaks will
Always be there.
Do not criticize
Your thighs or
Starve your stomach
because they
Do not look like
Hers.
And do not sell
Your sculpture
To those who cannot begin
To know your worth.
Because you,
My darling,
Are art.
 

-my mother forgot to tell me