Poetry: Scars by Lex Schultz

*Content Warning: self-harm*

Everyone who knows me knows

I am far from graceful-

I trip and fall and bust my lip.

I catch my finger with a knife…

My head with a curling iron…

My arm with the oven…

And my leg with a crate of bricks.

I've been like this my whole life.

And there's something I've learned

Through it all.

Even the deepest of scars will heal.

Some take longer than others,

But eventually they'll all be gone.

The one on my lip from falling

And hitting my face on a moving treadmill

(yes, that girl was me).

The one from trying to pull something

Out of the oven

when I was too short.

The ones from the crate of bricks,

And the ice skates that were a size too big,

(but the smallest size they had)

And the knives.

One day, they'll be gone

Without a trace.

The treadmill scar

Only lasted a few months.

The oven scar

Was there for almost a decade.

The bricks?

Three years.

The ice skates?

Only a few months

For those as well.

And the knives?

Well,

I thank God

The last remaining

Scar from a knife

Is finally fading.

A quarter of a century of this --

Of falling,

Bleeding,

Getting back up,

Scarring,

Healing.

And I've realized something else.

Eventually, EVERY scar will heal.

The broken hearts.

The feelings of guilt.

The questions and the doubts.

The brokenness.

They'll come and go -

The scars on the outside,

And the scars on the inside.

All heal the same.

I'll fall.

I'll bleed.

I'll get back up.

I'll scar.

I'll heal.

And some take longer than others.

But every scar

Will heal.

Lex Schultz is an Arizona-based novelist, copywriter, and aspiring screenwriter. She is excited to be joining the Kingdom of Pavement team and to watch this network grow! Lex is a global enthusiast and an art-historian-in-training. She dreams of traveling the world, helping preserve art and culture, and using those experiences to color her writing.