My skin tells many stories

It will draw you to sit crosslegged on a rug

Before the storyteller

It will tell intricate stories of ancestry

Of picking cotton and shelling peas

Of backs of buses and dirty water fountains

Though, sometimes, my skin may confuse you

May tell stories of fishing and bison hunting

Of dreamcatchers and a Trail of Tears

Mostly, my skin will tell you simple stories

Of chicken pox and mosquito bites

Of playing tag and scraping knees on gravel

It will tell stories of pain

Of potato peelers peeling something other than potato

Of needles drawing blood at the doctor's office

Or even at home

Will tell stories of pleasure

Of kisses on its surface or hugs around its circumference

My skin will tell you many stories

If you stop to listen