In Which I Openly Love My Pubic Hair

By

tiny black daggers
stabbing my skin
the folds between my legs
like porcupine needles
hatching
all over my vagina.

it’s been two days since
i went to the beach
looking down past my belly
to the kinky triangle
that lives
inside my thighs

inky curls a soft pillow
for my fingers
when i’m pensive
when i’m bored

i took my sister’s razor
a pink that makes you
want to lick it
and scraped it against the dark comforter
that i love
that i’m not allowed to show

because to be
curly
kinky
sweet smelling and natural
is against someone named marie claire’s
religion
she might try you for treason
for offending her perfumed pages

with your hair

so i scratched all my ribbons
into the drain
some caught on my fingers
not wanting to leave me

now my vagina
is puffy and red
swollen itchy bumps
that hurt when you touch them

nothing left to twist
when i’m pensive
when i’m bored

i feel naked
and cold

soft pillows and comforters
no longer wrap me
in their silky warmth

angry black teeth
have sprouted
instead

screeching
in reminder
that i’d much prefer

hair.