My Porcupine’s Dilemma

If I should be bare with her,

She would be the only one to know

Which scars have faded

which are still raised,

purple, circular

There are those I can’t see

in places too sharp to touch

Is it strange that I’m rarely dangerous with her?

Quills retract where they once would’ve drawn blood

Closer and closer, yet I am only met with smooth hands

Warm, all healing, requited hands

They have drawn love in miraculous detail

Unreplicable hands

I think that’s what hurts now,

Her fleeting

light

So, I take her picture selfishly

This camera is only mine

Pictures I won’t let them see

Their vision is unkind

But I need to be what’s in their eye

Enraptured by my image in theirs,

I stand before a mirror,

dislodge the quills

I am soft fur and vulnerable

I can’t hurt you now

Come closer,

and closer still

pain is evidence

that you are still next to me

As I lay dying

We are okay

Ava Burroughs is an 18-year-old poet and actress based in Rhode Island. She aspires to create authentically and realize her innermost thoughts.