breaking the skin

Each time I try to breathe in this body,

I choke on its unfamiliarity.

A cage,

Tight around me,

Filling me with a fear

I've never learned to name.

The mirror shows a face

I want to tear away,

To throw into the sea

And watch it sink beneath the waves.

But still,

I rise.

I rise with the ashes of old selves,

Climbing toward a place

I have yet to touch.