My prison

The worst thing about having poison ivy is that I don't feel like I can hug people or hold babies. It's so hard, I didn't realize how touchy/feely I am, and there have been times I want to reach out and hug someone, and then I hold it back, and it hurts on the inside. (sigh) Someday I will no longer have it and will be "unshackled" by this terrible condition. In the meantime, I will stay in my prison of agony.

Poison ivy or sumac

So I Am Changed
by Sibelan Forrester

Now that I am an initiate
I see it everywhere, the glossy
triangular eyes of its young
leer at me from every garden
and roadside in recognition.

All these years I didn't know
what might be out there to get me,
but now wherever I walk I keep
an eye out for that glossy leaf
and tendril, lurking at the edge
of the lawn, the soft touch
and proof of my angry imperfection.

I somehow got poison ivy or sumac about 10 days ago and am still breaking out and miserable. It feels as though I will always be "marked" and my body will always have these red blotches to prove it. I hope they go away and do not scar. I am so itchy, so tired of looking splotchy, it's embarrassing. Can I just say that I hate poison ivy?...