Kyla Yates
After Natasha Tretheway “What Is Evidence”
Not the girl you once knew covered
with makeup, hiding dark circles
like crescent-moons beneath the eye,
nor that quivering high schooler
who hid it all, leaning on her homework
to survive. Not the picture once
painted of a pious perfectionist —
its pigment now peeling to show
reality underneath. Not the tiny rule-following child
with her songs, her trust, singing
Follow the prophet! with such zeal.
Only the tattoos tracing my body — daring
testament of the rebellion undertaken
to embrace my truth — demonstrate this girl
twirling freely in a field of golden dandelions.