Scratches Poem by Katerina Val

Scratches
lines of solitude
lines of lies
and lines of protest
when we react
when we decide
to be despaired

Abrasions
brief excuses
of sententious insanity
cut concise sobs
of
for
undisclosed paranoia

Scarifications
for unintended laughs
scratch
and catch
catch me when I laugh
and cut them when they laugh
not a single smile in their seedily accessible faces
hasn't put venom in my scratch

In my skin
inside
where I need to bleed
but I don't bleed

I don't bleed
so I decide to scratch
and hide
behind the lines
and laugh
with their unexpected sulkiness
as I am drowning in my pretentious weakness
they are sinking in their despaired query
bewilderment
as I laugh among their laughs

bewilderment
for what I am
when my laughter sounds that sharp
and unpretentious
so I scratch
to laugh
my surface to delude
so I scratch.