at first your face frightened me
your face was the face of the girl i'd always wished to be
your face
i thought wrongly
was the face of the girl who never felt pain
if i could have worn a mask it would have been your face
if i could have had one wish at fourteen
it would have been your face
if i could choose between the gift of words and your face
i would choose the latter
your face looked the way i felt inside
i understood gossamer and rose petals
light on shallow water
mossy glades and the stained glass of butterfly wings
but my face was wrong
not mine
not what i felt inside
and you came up to me with that face
and i was afraid
and then you said, thank you
thank you for that story
it was the one about my botched nose job
my acne scars
my face-hate
you looked at me
and your eyes had golden rings
like lakes made from compassion's tears
you came to my house to write with us
you said you were a model
i tensed at the word
afraid of it as if you had said you were
a dog catcher or a cigarette manufacturer
but you brought gifts
bags of silk dresses
sea shells
cherries
your open heart
your wounds
they made you even more exquisite
you said sweet words
sweet as the cherry shape of your mouth
you came again and again
you said kind things to all of us
you brought cushions and fairies and goddesses
you called me part of your star
i look at you sitting on my couch
writing in your journal
your sheath of gold now twisted up
onto your head
with one flick of your wrist
cat eyes blink and kitten nostrils flare
fairy chin and cheekbones
a dryad's petal lips and eyelids
thank you for taking away my fear
we are not so different little cat goddess
fairy woman
wood nymph
star sister
by the stunning Francesca Lia Block
Friday, May 30, 2008