backstage auditorium

seeking refuge under the soaking rain

you, out of the blue, the last person I’d expect, spilled 

my hair looked

“Damaged.”

 

back then I didn’t listen;

I let it slide

like soap down the drain

 

but I heard.

 

I never told you this but

did you know?

 

I used to fear rain

pulled hoodies over my hair

guilty of my crime that

instead of running down fine hair

raindrops gathered on the frizz like

 

bugs stuck in cobwebs. 

 

but that night, following the word you spilled

and more words that streamed after

and later on, more events that spewed after

 

my fingers itched to pull over that hoodie

to protect those thorns from piercing

my half-healed blister.  

 

But now I’m done.

Wasn’t my stolen childhood enough?

 

I won’t let you pillage and plunder

The self-love that took me years to forge.

 

So I implore you:

 

Where bugs thrash

See two-carat diamonds

Speckled and spangled

On my curls that lacquer me like a bridal veil

 

remember. 

 

Never am I

On a rainy day

Pulling my hood for anyone

Ever again.