Unseen Map

You caught me off guard,

fingers tracing the rough edge

like it was a secret map

etched beneath my skin.

I stared, suddenly noticing

that splotch of reddish-brown,

half-hidden, careless,

a place I never meant to visit.

It stretched slow and stubborn,

a patchwork no one warned me about,

folded beneath collar bones,

a marker I never wore before.

Now, every glance

is an exploration,

a new country opening

inside the skin I thought I knew.