The ugliest creature to me has a round grotesque mug. It’s skin is dry and flakes then peels like a snake on a smaller scale. Under its eyes are purple marks and small holes like craters that clog and blacken. These blackened craters also cover its small nose and breed in the crevices of the round nostrils. On its plump chin the skin swells and reddens into red bumps that erupt like volcanos with pus.

It’s eyes are narrow and crusts at both end. They sit under wild bristles that grow untamed. Above those wild forests is a square forehead with more lines and craters.

Where the skin ends the fur begins. Layers upon layers of dry curled fur sprouts out of the head and down the bent neck. The shoulders are too wide, the waist not slim enough, the posterior not ‘thick’ enough, the thighs too thick with red and purple lines on the inside and outside. Don’t get me started about the legs. Another forest that needs constant trimming. Trim wrong and the skin become a dry rash that stings for days.

It’s hooves are flat footed and small but wide. They have little toes and a dry heel.

I see this ugly thing everywhere. In photos, in my car door windows....in the bathroom mirror.

It’s true sometimes I wake up and the ugliest creature is my own reflection. But beauty is only skin deep. I’m a human being like every other human being and I’m beautiful ☺️.