Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Skincare Routine^TM” by Qurat Dar, part of our 2024 Poem in Your Pocket Day collection!

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Skincare Routine^TM

by Qurat Dar

Or I am trying to erase the past selves

from my cheeks;

Or I am dappled with timestamps

the way a tree wears its rings;

Or a friend once admired the “freckles”

on my shoulders and I corrected them;

Or dermatologists recommend beginning

anti-aging products in your mid-to-late twenties;

Or what separates beauty spot

from blemish is what separates

a happy accident from whatever

I am.

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Qurat Dar was the City of Mississauga’s third Youth Poet Laureate (2021-2023) and the 2020 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam National Champion. Her work has appeared in Canthius, Augur Magazine, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, and in virtual reality, among other places.

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