is that feeling of a missing a spot on your knee after shaving your legs.

The prickly patch rubs your bare skin raw
every time you cross your legs.

You forget all about it
until you sit folded over yourself like a newspaper
and you see them glaring back at you
in defiance.

In the back of your mind is the to-do list you’ve compiled in your head:



1. Homework.



2. Re-shave that spot you missed.

With luck, you remember, and it’s done.
A quick fix.

Often, though, it doesn’t seem important enough,
and you never get around to it.

Then, the next time you wear a skirt to school,
it’s there,
and you remember, all right.
It’s the only thing on your mind.

So you race home and you scrape it away...
and it’s gone,
circling the drain,
finally forgotten.