Scar tissue

I picked at the scars
with my racing mind
until I felt the pain again
something I couldn't leave behind
like an unnatural addiction,
bloating me, filling the potholes
with cheap jelly tarmac.

Once I caught myself in the mirror
taking a sneaky peek
for the one I'd forgotten
forensic eyes all shifty
quizzical
unfolding skins
with a fine tooth comb stare

It was getting late
when I spotted what I didn't wish to see
(yet had been looking for)
just jammed at the rear of the heart
its arms strangling the beats
still daring to hold on
to what was mine.