Second Layer of Skin

Visual by Laila Aissaoui

1. I’ve gotten Brooke Shields, Mischa Barton, and Joey King. Popsugar.com told me I looked like Rainn Wilson once and 

2. Yesterday somebody told me I resemble Paul Dano which i don’t know if I agree with but 

3. Maybe my face looks different on shady park benches or during the afternoon or when

4. I talk about something or someone I love.

5. I don’t know if I like how I look but 

6. I like how I look in the first pair of blue jeans I bought on the turnpike or when

7. I run down King Street at night with loose strands in my eyes 

8. Arms out and 

9. Stretching my father’s old raincoat that i’m not supposed to be wearing.

10. Some people laugh at the way my feet move in blotches how they

11. Trip over red tape but I know that my feet are capable of moving in 

12. Smooth currents when I yell over ticking clocks and crickets and learn to avoid your gaze.

13. I say I hate it when you borrow my clothes but 

14. I only hate it when 

15. People say they look good on you, when I’m not there to interrupt and say that they

16. Came from my drawer and that i 

17. Found them for seven dollars at the Goodwill. 

18. When I press my foot on the gas I admire the mirror. Love my smirk when I 

19. Swerve around parked cars on the way to work, when I roll through signs on my way home covered in flour. 

20.  I like when you tell me I look different but it makes me 

21. Worry about when I looked the same 

22. If you can still see the dark spots along my jaw or the

23. Puckered skin along my inner thigh. 

24. So I put on a second layer of skin and 

25. Only wear shorts at night.