Flesh

What is pretty? Is it platinum blonde like sunlight and Baby blue eyes like sapphires? Is pretty so skinny your bones pierce your flesh In a dead and grotesque fashion? Is pretty lingerie drawn tight around your body Showing all Clothes that expose every crevice And curve for another's amusement? Another's approval? Is pretty some dull-eyed barely-clothed girl Gyrating against a pole in some meaningless Attempt to feel something as groups of unfeeling Lust-fueled men eye-rape her and shout things For their own amusement? What about the girl who can't wear makeup Because of the chemicals? The girl who wakes up every day to her Own reflection and begs the question.... Why can't I be beautiful? The girl that weighs herself constantly Dropping pounds like rain Afraid to be "fat" but she barely eats.... The girl that sits alone in her room And cuts herself Full of self hatred At her body. Bleeding out and marring her own Precious flesh.... Are they beautiful? Are we beautiful? Who gets to decide beauty? And where does it come from? Is it the naked reflection in the mirror We gaze upon when no one else is around or The soul within the broken vessel covered In colors and poisons? What are we?