Scars

true story: a star is born of two things

her million year life the process of making more out of those things

one from the other

hydrogen to helium by way of adding or losing something

to make something

until one day it makes iron, the stable 26th element

and silly habitual romantic that she is

the star aspires to the betterment of that:

beyond stability into perfection

in attempting to make the 27th element she dies

the explosive accident of her death is the only way we get

all the other elements beyond the 26th

like carbon without which there is no life

the universe holds of 140 billion galaxies like ours in just a corner of itself

across hundreds of thousands of light years

a telescope photographs gas clouds giving life to stars to come

from the deaths of other stars now inconsequent and dull

a telephoto witness

here on earth today

it’s hard to walk without brushing up against all the jagged edges

razor thin subtle but the cuts are wet

and red

mostly I’m worried about my face

I have to have a face left to look back at in the mirror

turn my forearms upwards like a prayer without hands

the place under my eyes warms right before the tears

burning up my mask for the day

for this day people will know I have lost my face

there is a sensory muting of sorts

a general retreat of all your outer extremities

into your inner most insides

which now are crowded and mangled

and itching to throw themselves out your throat

should you speak

you are now just the size of the small hole right in between your breasts

dimming

because this is not the first time and this is not a reversible process

your best case scenario has always been scars