‘We are strong and enduring. We are also deeply scarred’ – Audre Lorde
Scar
Noun
- a mark left on the skin or within body tissue where a wound, burn, or sore has not healed completely and fibrous connective tissue has developed.
- a steep high cliff or rock outcrop, especially of limestone.
Verb
- mark with a scar or scars.
We have always given our scars this strange power.
We have always given that power too much space in our purpose.
We have always equated strength to suffering, surviving and scars.
All these scars that stretch beneath my skin.
All these stories that survive through suffering.
All this healing that has to be stronger than
All this hurting.
Wandering,
Wondering,
Wounding.
Another kind of memory.
Many different kinds of moments.
Finding the word through flesh.
Making the meaning through skin.
Being seen through suffering.
Showing through surviving.
We are soft.
We are scarred.
We are still.
We are seen.
Stretching through becoming.
Stripping through scarring.
Healing through hurting.
The scars remain.
I remain.
It all just remains.
This strange power
That scars have;
That remains.