Assignment: Free-write on the question “What is your body?”
My body is my anchor.
It is what I know to be true.
I know all of it.
The birth mark on my lower back,
The double-jointed thumbs,
The build-up of scar tissue from ears pierced three times.
I know what my skin feels like;
The temperature to expect when I touch my cheeks,
The surgical scars on my stomach,
The less-planned scars on my arm that once served as evidence
and now are only evident to me.
My chest and arms have dented skin.
I have so many stretch marks that little kids could try to count them like the stars in the sky.
After losing track, I just hope they will lie back in the grass
and think about how beautiful the sky is.
