scratches and falls

walking home I plucked a leaf from a neighbours hedge
as my arm outstretched I noticed a scratch below my elbow
a scratch on my elbow I did not know was there
a scratch surrounded by hairs on my forearm
fairer than the fair hair on my upper arm

the scratch was scabbed and dirty
it gathered its ugliness together in clumps of red lumps
i thought I might have stuck my elbow out at some point
to have softened a fall and prevented a call
of pain a time I had spiraled with the fall

if the scratch was from the fall
then was the fall from another scratch
a scratch that tipped me to fall to cause the mystery scratch
i didn’t remember and repress the memory still
i’d prefer not to know either way