Scars: Starfish

I plan to write a series of poems titled Scars. One of the poems in the series is titled Starfish. The theme is based around kids in Jamaica who have various Scars and how each scar tells its own story. The poems will be fictional but influenced by true stories that I have been told. I performed this poem at Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. Check the video at the end.


Scars: Starfish


Yo, how yuh get dat scar?

Two boys look at his scar
as if it were a work of art.
he looks back at them,
then touches it.
Right above his lip,
runs his fingertips through the grooves.
It has a dip in the center
with five points like a starfish.
They ask again

How yuh get dat scar dawg?

His mind flashes back to the pain.
Was it when his stepfather swung the hot frying pan at him
and hot oil bubbled
on his face and chest?
Or was it the ring that gave his lip a bloody kiss?
He remembers the pain and the look on his stepfather’s face,
but what made the scar?
He looks at them and says

I doh know.