Body of Work - Laura Neri
Flee
I spent much of my life imprisoned,
Held hostage by two golden bands.
Shackled and stumbling
In the blindness of love
And the naiveté of youth.
Where logic can be darkly manipulated
As easily as I was.
The tongue leaves scars that do not heal,
And bruises that cannot be seen
And do not fade.
Of course he loved me.
A dark, diseased love
That worked in collusion with my own pitiful self-worth.
Despite the pain, despite the anger,
To spite myself…
So many reasons why I should
Stay.
For my marriage. For my child. For my God.
Forget me.
Fear is like a serpent.
Coldly coiled,
Pervasive and perverse,
Persuading me to
Stay.
Bound by duty. Bound by vows. Bound and gagged
For seven years.
As I withered inside,
Like lifeless leaves by frost,
I became numb.
To bear the pain, the shame,
The weight of worthlessness.
It was then, when upon my knees,
I found a strength born from anger.
The fire of my rage burned through my bonds.
That is when I dared to flee.
That is when I chose to become free.
Skin Deep
I invite you to re-examine your definition of beauty.
To deny the politic standard of emaciation,
To equip the senses
To divulge the ancient secrets of allure.
Allow your eyes to linger, love
Upon my swollen lips,
The arch of my back,
The curve of my hip.
I challenge you to deny the fire in your fingers
That the softness of my skin ignites.
Or the pleasure derived from the weight of my breast
In your palm,
Rather than the painful hollow of ribs.
Observe the breadth of my thighs,
The length of my limbs.
How they wrap you tightly
As no fragile creature could.
I implore you to lay your body upon me
I will greet it with strength and passion,
Accepting your weight gratefully,
For I am not frail.
I am not small.
Bury yourself in my softness.
Perceive the passion in my eyes.
Succumb to me,
And then tell me,
Is that skinny girl
With her jutting bones,
Her skin drawn taut,
And her sunken, empty, eyes...
Is she more beautiful than I?
Moonlit Summer
I wait quietly, in that secret place
Inside of me
And hope the sun will break,
And stars explode the velvet sky
Glistening like shattered glass on pavement.
The summer air kisses my skin cold
And tugs my hair in its hands
So when I shiver, it is almost like sex.
The night smells so lush, and green and still…
As if it knows it is on the precipice
Of something subtle and great.
So I let the moonlight caress me like a lover
And hope you feel it too.
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