"I am not beautiful.I am not a walking metaphor,and I am not a syllablethat can be said..."

“I am not beautiful.

I am not a walking metaphor,

and I am not a syllable

that can be said without

your mouth feeling as if

it’s on fire. I am not something

that can be turned into a poem,

turned into something

that everyone can relate to.

I am not a role model.

I have more scars on my skin

than I do birthmarks,

and I put them there myself.

That isn’t beautiful,

and that isn’t something

that someone should

look up to or want to become.

I am not a hero. My words

are what keep my spine

from falling out of place,

and my meaning is the

only thing that has kept me

from not losing my mind

for all of these years.

There is nothing beautiful

about not being able to

look in the mirror in the morning,

and there is nothing

romantic about being alone

at 2 a.m. and smelling

of cigarettes and wine.

I am not beautiful,

and I am not someone

that anyone should

want to become.”

- "I am not someone that anyone should admire," - Colleen Brown