one day i will have a body you will have never touched. -l.m.

today in science class i learned

every cell in our entire body

is replaced every seven years

how lovely it is to know

one day i will have a body

you will have never touched

-l.m.

i keep myself awake at night

even when my insomnia

and anxiety

and depression

take the night off

because i never feel more safe at home

than when she’s asleep

her hands can’t bruise me

her words can’t cut me

i’m afraid of the dark

but i’m more afraid of her

and the way her hands feel

every time they come within two feet of me

my skin never forgot how it felt

shoved against the granite counter

never forgot

the purple ring on my arm

somehow she wonders why

i stiffen at every caress