Pulling out of the old scarred skin (old rough thing I don't need now I strip off slip out of leave behind) I slough off deadscales flick skinflakes to the ground Shedding toughness peeling layers down to vulnerable stuff And I'm blinking off old eyelids for a new way of seeing By the rock I rub against I'm going to be tender again
From Blues Baby: Early Poems by Harryette Mullen, published by Bucknell University Press. Copyright © 1981, 2002 by Harryette Mullen. Used by permission. All rights reserved.