You Can Be Pretty Too: The Tale Of The Monsters Who Weren't Monsters Poem by Maya Hanson

Saltwater runs down the bathroom wall
I hug my legs so tightly they might snap
as I tear away from your gaze,
read into every letter your lips write me.

All I can hear you say is
you're trying to block the monsters
not monsters
from turning my soul into junkyard scraps

but I want to tell you they're not the bad kind,
they're the fragile kind people want to collect and
hang in their pretty houses
in patterns and packages
and pretend it makes them quirky.

My bones and soul are cracked and rusted
and almost too little to live
but in my eyes they're so beautiful…

You can be pretty too,
I have connections
I'll let them whisper in your ear
so the metal turns colors and
looks like a feather
that's so good at whispering softly to your skin,
and a kaleidoscope drifts
into your beautiful eyes,
the monsters
not monsters
can perfect you too.

With the letters I can bend my bones into,
I can almost spell the names
of things I can't have like
strawberries and that half bite of chocolate

They remind me of all the times
you told me
Have a taste.

But I can't, I count so carefully
Every move is a heartbeat
Every sound is a stab
Every smell is something the monsters
not monsters
hold over me.

But I'm telling you right now
I'm in control
I'm so in control

You can be pretty too.
Just let me tell you.