Held my thumb to the light yesterday

Held my thumb to the light yesterday.

The dirt under the nail is almost black now.

Been there a week.

I scraped it with another nail—just pushed it deeper.

Tried soap. Tried a brush.

Tried ignoring it.

At some point it stopped being dirt

and became something I was keeping.

A reminder that I worked.

That something outside got under my skin

and stayed.