Day One

I'll wear a new skin, black, raw, and a coloured throat with markings dissimilar to flowers. Shoes, left then right, with a scuffed pale mark on the toe. Consider the appropriate care for these ornaments, tar and a brush, do NOT act upon these thoughts. Grin hollowly at a mirror to inspect teeth chastised by a stranger in my mind for vanity, ignore him, continue checking teeth, checking skin, pinching, frowning at a swollen point of red. To frown I pull my brows down and close until they knit together neatly, bristling, and flair my nostrils like a stalking animal. Terminally dissatisfied by the face in close-up, step back. Examine the whole person. The man in the mirror seems aggravated- see how he rolls his eyes, unschooled in their direction. On the flushed rim of each eye there is a point of light. He is crying. Now move these shoulders back, eyes forward in an attitude of male antagonism. To encourage my strange body in this posture, smile again at myself. Fully formed- time to go. (Really, I'm not sure if this is a short story or what.)