Tuesday Poem by Dami Ajayi

(For D.B)

Some study the cartography of their face
for doctorates in vanity.

Look into the mirror,
see what you’ve become.

We made faces at our mirror reflections
before we invented selfies.

See pustules once swollen,
pregnant with martyred leukocytes and pus.

See blackhead, whitehead, comedones
if my dermatology posting still serves.

Rub one of the eighty-four plus minor monuments
dotting your face.

Time has made an Enwonwu
of your post-pubertal face.

Integuments are entanglements
that do not navigate the soul shuttle

& I see beyond this graffiti of acne
that is your face.