Every time at school,

When she felt like she didn’t belong,

She would draw something,

On her left hand,

And by 3:45,

Her hand was covered up to her elbow with,

Heart-eyed emojis,

Cactuses,

Moons,

And Roman Numerals.

She had star constellations,

And Zodiac Gemini signs,

Mixed in with arrows,

Of every color and design.

And when a boy once said,

That it was weird,

And stupid,

Her best friend said,

“Leave off.”

And another friend,

From Science class said,

Holding up her own hand,

With a cross drawn,

In black sharpie,

“At least we have the courage enough,

To exploit our insecurities,

In a form of art,

Instead of bringing others down,

Because of the excuse,

‘It makes me feel better.’ ”

No one said anything about it again,

And when doodles overlapped,

The colors mixing,

And contrasting,

Her hand looked like a painting,

Because all the doubts,

Were slowly fading away,

Only to be replaced with new ones,

In the form of doodles.

Flowers,

Diamonds,

And stick people.

And at the end of the year,

She washed off her doodles,

And put her insecurities into words,

Which where published,

And heard all over the world.

Because sometimes,

All it takes,

To find courage

Is to show,

Your insecurities,

And wash them away,

Like marker designs,

Because life is better,

When we all have courage enough,

To face our fears,

And exploit our insecurities.