Neurotica by Alicia Winski

Standing naked and vulnerable,
skin crawling with irritation,
confronting a harsh, neglected mirror

with dubious hesitation

Oh, such imperfection I see,
a face heavily lined in stress and strife,
marred and scarred by a chaotic,
intricate life

Does that face belong to me?

Such a scared little girl,
hiding inside a woman full grown

Can I let that little girl out

to play once again?

Or is she too naïve to be left alone in
this big bad world so often cruel to
a long inhabited anatomical tenement

far too worn to be conceived as
a fresh new exotica?

I spend the long night hours vigorously chewing up, then distastefully spitting out, a mouthful of self-loathing
well seasoned with doubt –

Welcome~