Outsider

She fumbles to glue her bones back together,
   aches from sex with the barstool the night before

and confesses a lifetime of diaries while hugging my arm.
   There, she traces the lines between my knuckles,

asks how many valleys it took to stand upright, to
   become invisible to the hands that grab you in the

dark. I know; the youth lost through teeth, the carnal
   discord fading the eyes that hunt you, and regret

like a cord reminding you not to stray too far from home.
   Her fear hangs in the air like a prayer, the struggle

to reform her shape into something lithe, something destined
   and paraded. She vomits cartwheels and shakes from the memories

salted on her shoulders. Her giant, rain pool eyes tug at me
   for advice, but I am a monument of patchwork things,

untattooed by their names and honest only in what I've chosen
   to remember. After years of careful carving, all

I can give her is the mantra I have carried: that
   no one has been strong enough to hurt me.

Sin Ribbon is a storyteller weaving tales of encouragement and consequence through prose, paintings, and poetry. She is the author of the urban fantasy series, Ten of Destiny, and creator of the award-winning podcast, In Her Burning: A Surreal Diary. Her work has found homes with Ruminate, Barrelhouse, TERSE., Moonchild, Luna Luna, and other magazines. Her debut poetry collection, Dead Star Rituals, releases winter 2021. Find her on Instagram and Twitter via @sinribbon or at https://sinribbon.com.