Rubber Smudge

("I have the self esteem of a skid mark." This is a saying some people throw around jokingly to prod at their own self image. I identify with this metaphor but under particular parameters.)

I am a skid mark,
made by someone mistaking a fallen maple leaf
for a small animal in the road
that swerved to avoid it
only to realize mid-skid
their ridiculousness.
I am what was left behind.
A small, hasty, streak of worn tire
unnoticed by subsequent passing drivers.

I am a skid mark,
not the perfect circular brushstroke
of the doughnut spun in the empty parking lot
after everyone has left for the day.
I am not the impressively solid ring
that everyone sees and smirks at,
one stamped for all to admire.

I am a skid mark.
A residual remnant, 
a non-dimensional scuff.