#body positive poems

[calcollage]

cw body-image discussion. ive been struggling a lot recently with my sense of self and how that interacts with my body dysmorphia. remembering that progress isnt linear has been tough but essential and im really grateful for the support systems i have in my life right now. this poem was written for class but it helped me sift through some of the thoughts i was having in october and after revisiting it i think its worth sharing <3

embodied

After Iris Bernblum’s “Imposture”

hips connect to waist connect to ribcage connect to breasts connect to dripping

stalactites made from pink “flesh” and bronze “bones." robotic and cavernous,

my body is a shrine built to someone else, not myself, and certainly not some

hypothetical offspring. the shrine is an amalgamation

of every woman who came before me,

every woman who manicured asymmetrical eyebrows in a broken mirror,

pulled jeans over wide thighs under white thrift store fluorescents

every woman who hugged stomach closer to rib, making room for strangers in a grocery aisle.

every woman who has ever loved my body, has hated her own.

amidst bronze bones and paraffin drippage,

i carry in the hollow parts of my skin, a secret code

without a key.

if only my mother's mother had seen the stalagmites

growing through the floor (through her feet) pinning her in place.

[pure-light-and-love]

find someone who will go stargazing with you and then make love with you right under the stars.

[vylirium]

[fella-lovin-fella]

"how do you know your boyfriend loves you?" he sent me this passage from a book he was reading

[hotteststar]

another poem bcs why not?

THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL IT

dysphoria, they call it,

but i think it's an empty name.

when you read it, you don't feel

all the pain that lives behind it.

you don't feel the pain in your chest,

you can't know how much it hurts.

you know nothing about the confusion

that that name can unleash in our hearts.

tell me, do you ever look in the mirror

and see a wrong version of you?

like you wish you were more androgynous,

but still say it's nothing.

you are what's between your legs,

nothing more, nothing less.

you can't change it and you can't switch.

you were born that way, that's it.

and then you start wondering

what it could be like

to be who you truly are, to be born again,

but in the right body this time.

to feel good when you look at your hands,

not to be scared of changing your clothes,

to be able to look at your groin without

that feeling, that lump in your throat.

i was born wrong.

i was born in a body that i don't feel mine.

i was born through a mistake.

i was born, but i don't feel alive.

i watch other people;

they are something i'll never be.

they are confident, strong.

they are so right; they are nothing like me.

'cause i'm wrong.

i am, i know it now; i can try to change it,

but that's still the truth,

even if i lie to myself and everybody else,

i still live in a body that i

don't recognize as mine.

[cillicadust]

For a generation that is so in love with body positivity (which is wonderful, me too) gen Z really lives to come up with new and critical phrases and concepts to describe and critique people’s bodies…

“Headphones waist” “legging legs” shut up?

[alittlewoozyhere]

Sitting here staring at the map of all the places you’ve been and the journeys you’ve yet to take and feeling so proud of our brave little explorer

[yourdreamsaredreamingyouback]

There’s no such thing as a private thought. You think a thought, you feel a feeling, it does go out into the world and you are your number one responsibility. You are the goddess of the universe, of your organs and all the cells in your body. You’re a very important goddess to all those living beings, every cell in your body, taking great care of your body. Getting into a healthy energy place emotionally and psychologically with yourself is a very very important thing that we need to do. You’re going to show up a better, pure expression of yourself out in the world. 

-Benjamin Decker

curate those thoughts

[littlebydigital]

Today I Asked My Body What She Needed

[kellylynncurry]

As I tear at the walls of my body, my home

I suffer and I bleed

The loathing bombards the scars, freckles, and stretch marks

I try to rebuild; to patch myself up with self-assurances

Building bricks of love and happiness

To not grow into any set mold

To blossom into a wildflower:

Fierce, delicate, blooming.

— Kelly Lynn Curry

From the book Radiant Poppy

[pure-light-and-love]

always down for skin to skin cuddling and deep conversation.

[stantheanomaly]

Like the moon, you've different phases, and you're beautiful in all of them.

- Suvrahadip Ghosh, from Ruins

Found it relatable? You can read the entire piece in my debut book Ruins, it's available on Amazon on a discounted rate 🌻

[loveisrootedinme]

[poemsfromhersoul]

I can’t wait until it’s just warm enough to sit outside and the warmth of the sun hits just right on you and you can comfortably read or listen to music, feeling like you’re wrapped in a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. That is what life is about.

[cupcraft]

Catalogue: a poem about loving your body

Tag list:

@whereisela @clingyduoapologist @voidless-screaming @snaxle @boygirltitties @wiiwarechronicles @xpoolboy @legendofscarf @lupvium @hecksee @blockofhoney @phantoids @the-g-m @thelissbliss

[surrealreal]

picked, pulled at, torn apart.

till every piece of you is just that, a piece that doesn't belong. the whole of you disappears,

still, you try and you try to sew yourself back together. self care, inner care. the poutier your lips, the thicker your thighs. perfect a piece and smooth out the seams, so you could point to it, say, "see? not all of me is ugly."

you tease out a laugh and sit there, pinned to performing pretty. you hold ragged fragments up to light, hold them just so, and stuff the cracks with passing praise.

you sit there, not certain if the pieces that make up your tattered face have moved, till the perfect moment passes, as it always does,

but the work remains.