Skin Market

I was feeling false. I was feeling manufactured
is my skin authentic or a knock-off?
I can’t find the receipt
the mark of scissors on my thigh
makes me suspicious

Birthmark or trademark?
My mother left her mark on me
but was she a uterus
or a Van Neumann machine?
Scan my barcode.

We are simulacra; I remember
the chain of paper dolls
we were rolled out in sheets
sliced down to size, feet and hands
severed – fingers and toes, surgical scars

Scars record on our bodies
a history of connection
but is it art or artifice?
If our fingers meet again
will they reknit or reunite?

Now that it’s beyond repair
it’s time to let the market decide