Adopted

I was born

into an empty room

blue light (my favorite, so...)

love thick

beating hearts

I became one

.

my skin story has no color

.

I keep floating, naked

.

some people grow thick skin

some born like a snake

sleeping

skins and skins and skins

.

so

what if I asked you to paint me

instead of walls

instead of canvas

take all of this oat flesh

take my eyes and my lips

.

I am a vast home

over a cliff

I am a cloud

I keep floating

naked

all my spaces have stories

.

then can I ask

as I've gained your heart

take all of me

with your brushes and your eye and the dots of your ancestry

you can even carve me

into me

the bees and the blood and the spirits you

hold your hand out to

.

you say

.. they're with me

.

I keep floating

naked

.

so I'll lie, the color of oat

one Sunday

before you

still

for however long

perhaps I'll become a river of red velvet

a night, black with the tattoos of a moon

a deep gold sliver

(carve me, please)

a sky of potent stars

a woman

with tart red hair

like the woman who has seen

my future

.

perhaps I'll become

a spray of gothic roses

a field in the night – all silhouettes

someone's dream

a sunset

just days before winter

spray painted

the heart stopping colors of some childhoods –

softest pink, light as air

blues like feathers

citrus fire against deep purples

.

perhaps my blood will trickle

like milk

.

I keep floating,

naked

.

with your fruits always fresh

from today's trees

will you be the one

to paint me

because you see

my camouflage

is my color

and my skin story

is bursting

to be described

.

and I hear you

when you say

they see me