Listener Lyric Unit
A Listener Lyric is when a poem is written after interviewing someone about a story from their life or the story of their life. Mine was written after interviewing someone who struggles with body image and their personal experience with the subject.
My Listener Lyric
I Want to Belong to Me
You look in the mirror and see a body that you know is yours,
but doesn’t truly register as yours.
As you twist yourself around to see this body–your body, in the reflection, you can’t help but feel
D
E
T
A
C
H
E
D
You remember the comments made on your body from long ago, from people who didn’t know you and who shouldn’t matter, but the words still left scars in your image. Comments spoken with malice were thrown your way without you ever asking.
“Should you be eating that?”
“I mean, do you really want to wear that?”
“You’ve been getting even bigger.”
This left you with a belief you still can’t quite shake:
Y o u t a k e u p t o o m u c h s p a c e
With your hands you try to mold the flesh into what you wish your body could be
You imagine how great it must feel to look like anyone else–anyone else but you.
When you let your arms fall and watch your body return to its existing state you feel a deep ache in your chest.
It is so lonely to not love one’s self.
Years have passed and your body has been with you through every bad day, nasty comment, and illness. It hits you that in order to feel at peace with yourself you need to be at peace with your body. Your body is your home, and it belongs to you. People may treat it as if it isn’t yours, or that there is something wrong with it, but your heart still beats strong. All your body cares about is keeping you alive, and it’s about time you repay the favor.
Photo above is from the Artist: Ambivalently Yours