Protection is the purpose of your skin
Protection against virus and infection
Protection for the places held within
Protection from the waves of introspection.
I sat with my hand just beneath her sweater
She spoke to me of hope, and moving on
Her skin a caring, poignant, firm love letter
To her old life, now forever gone.

Regulation is the purpose of your skin
Regulation of your body heat and sweat
Regulation, it is self-care for the win
Regulation is a quiet-mind blanket.
Her hand in mine she said, “I should be going”
My day starts sharp at 5:00, there is a system
And between work and kids I’m ever growing
Plus a little weed, and meditation.

Sensation is the purpose of your skin
Sensation to alarm, alert, excite
Sensation is the cold of winter evenings
Sensation is the warmth of winter nights.
Deep within her I felt new sensations
Something akin to pain, but yet ecstatic
Euphoria’s an ending and beginning
A pleasure both awaited and erratic.

Protection, regulation, and sensation
I see the freedoms each of them afford her
From her poem’s place of inspiration
To her rules kept carefully in order
Her skin is marked with ink as a reminder
Her skin is soft as meadow grass at dawn
Her skin bears scars from all that lies behind her
Her skin is all these things, rolled into one.