I sneak into my mother's cabinet 

steal expensive face cream 

Its thick and gloppy, smells a little - like faint sunscreen

Stings my ingrown hairs; slick and almost greasy 

And after I use it I understand. 

My cheeks are chubby and bouncy

I'm a plump child in the dim light 

my skin glows along my bones 

my jaw and temple: eerie too 

I look and look and trace my larynx and think: 

If I were a woman, 

how beautiful I would be 

and how easy and open I'd find the world