When I Take My Clothes Off For You

When I take my clothes off for you

I won’t do it for sex

I’ll do it to be naked

To show you my scars

Outline all the cracks in my facade

Like the gash on my knee

Chiseled in by rocks

The hairless strip on my right shin

I earned when testing a razor for the first time

Shaving away skin with hair that had not even grown in yet

I’d take off my shirt to let you examine

The piece between my shoulder and underarm

The bit of me that fell out

When I was dancing at the wrong store at the wrong time by the wrong shelf

I’d shuffle out of my skirt to display the burnt patch on my thigh

From when my fingers were tempted by the hot dispenser of the cooler

And the outline of agony when my father didn't believe it actually hurt

I’d show you the tunnels on my stomach

Where the butterflies soared out

As an almost lover said it was time to migrate

And the streak on my forehead 

I created while questioning if my attempts to mean something

Were simply me conforming to a fresh brand of nonconformity

If I loved you enough I’d throw off my heels

So you could see the blisters that coat my feet

I made running away from someone I was becoming

I won’t wear anything

When I’m ready to display the craters on my arms

Engraved from carrying the weight of the universe

I’d look up towards the sky

So you could explore the crack between my chin and neck

Sculpted by the endless glances towards my feet

When I was too afraid to look at the reality before me

You can even stare at my butt

Look at the bruise stained footprints

The souvenirs of the endless times life has kicked my ass

But you can also trace over my sister’s hand-prints on my back

And the eroded streams on my cheeks

From when my feelings shattered their shackles

And escaped the rib cage prison

Where I seal cells with silver lines of poetry flowing through my fingers

Which have impressions of pencils and pages and promises

I could never hold onto

I’ll be your landmark

Something you visited on a field trip

That you study from three feet away

When I take my clothes off for you

You’ll feel the need to eliminate that distance

And slam your form against mine to make sense of it all

But this is me undressed

At my most naked

Laced in crevices and cracks
The closest I can let anyone in

This is the only way I know how to give myself to you

I just ask that you show me the scars on your throat

From all the times your head and heart got into fist fights

The gashes in your mouth from the moments you’ve been tongue tied

Let me peel off your pants to see

The sores on your legs you made trying to stand taller than you are

Or up when the easier position was down

And if we get there

If I ever find someone worth visiting the scarred section of my soul with

Then I think it would be OK if you severed the tourist lines

Because I won’t be foreign to you

And we can let our guards down

Or at least off duty

And you can touch me

Because at that point, you already have.