Your chest should be bigger.
Fix your shapeless figure.
And those dips in your hips,
those terribly thin lips…
And your unyielding nature to be kind,
I am a constellation of generations
Lovers sharing gifts with no hesitations.
I see the world from my Mothers eyes,
glassy orbs of jade crystalized.
My grandmothers frame woven into my own
Soft, warm, to be my daughter's first home.
My sisters dipped hips are square as she heaves
self hatred off me and my shaking knees.
My love of their bodies bleed
Crinkled crows feet chronicle countless occasions
Of sun soaked joy etched on our communal faces.
Grandmas deep lines a coveted state,
but media sees aging as a debate.
We don't shame the rings accumulated by the pine,
or the tannins evolved by aging of wine.
Why are women expected to be exempt from time?
Why change the shapes passed down to me?
I am attraction embodied by a lineage of love stories.
I carry slender fingers of a Mother that came before me.
Did she use them to wash, to weave, to write poetry?
My shoulders molded from strong women,
carrying water, expectations, and small children.
My curious kindness to all of earth's creatures
framed by millennia of patient teachers.
Maybe my stubborn mind is naturally begotten,
forged in the fires of rebellions long forgotten.
And to the found families where blood is not shared,
with Her invisibly interlaced legacy of care.
The midwives guiding my many Mothers through pains
and ancient wisewomen with magic in their veins.
Friends who became sisters, then godmothers and aunties
Devoted families built gossiping over herbal teas.
And for my chosen sisters, with our contrasted skin
Your body is home for a soul that I feel akin.
We may not share features, forms, or family
But your love shapes, guides, and compels me.
Our propagated flaws wilt when exposed
To our reciprocal adoration that time echos
I am not stupid, broken, ugly, or wrong
I am built perfectly, beautifully, lovingly and strong.
I am a mosaic of the women that came before
The women I would never scorn
For having a flat chest, square hips, or small lips.
A legacy of indefectible women.
Hello! I havnt written poetry in a few years but i got a bug up my ass and put this together.
i am so tired of social expectations telling me all the procedures i should get done to look more attractive, think Love Island, Tik Tok, Instagram, Celebs blah blah blah.
I read The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and it really changed my perspective. I realized that the countless of women in my lineage were beautiful enough to pass their genes on to me so by scientific reasoning i must also be beautiful enough.
I come from a matriarchal family and have so much respect for my elders, but now i’m older i notice all the times grandma complains about wanting a facelift, or mom talking about her liposuction dreams. My sister and I were going to hold hands while we got lip injections! But something changed in me when i realized all these aspect my female relatives wanted to change about themselves were aspects that i either never noticed or at least never faulted. i told my mom i wanted breast implants and it saddens her because then i wouldn’t fit in her wedding dress anymore. And that’s when things clicked. Im molded from the people i revere. Why should i change??
And my other side of the family isn’t in my life. I don’t know if we share features but that’s why chosen family exists. I didn’t inherit my roomates gorgeous figure but she passed on to me her love for beaded crafts and all the boy knowledge i needed in college. I didn’t get my childhood best friend’s deep complexion but i got her unwavering conviction to speak my mind at social injustices. And my trans friend taught me that woman hood isn’t reliant upon genetics OR genitals. She’s feminine, beautiful, wonderful, and womanly completely by action.
Loving yourself is the biggest protest in our modern culture. Magazines, tv shows, socials, whatever can’t convince me i’m build wrong when i’m built by the collection of women i adore.
romaincrisis
areudirty
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
