Scabs

Scabs I
-C. Castro

Scabs I pick at include:

The ones on my head
especially the ones that come out with a hair in the bullseye
which always causes me to look over my shoulder.

The one from the curling iron burn
because it's taking too long to heal and
the crust wants help

The one on my knee that's technically a rug burn
That when I flick at the dead dark skin
I always grin because I know and
now you know too

The one from the popped pimple on my back that I secretly fear may be 

the beginning of my slow death

The one from my elbow where I fell and got back up
I do not recall the falling or the why
Only that my elbow hurt for weeks
And the skin was so thick
So much thicker than a regular scab
I removed it repeatedly for weeks
Then one day - poof -
my normal every day elbow

Of all my most unseemly compulsions,
there is always you
a little patch of heart sore
nearly healed then newly scratched-
a stigmata of love.