My body is not an apology – Susan M. Conway

Not Shameful

Brave & Reckless

My body is not an apology.

My body is not an apology; It is triumphant if anything at all.

I haven’t been so loving to her skin.

I wasn’t taught to; yet here I am, beautifully marked.

I haven’t been so loving to my fat.

I wasn’t taught to; yet here I am, flawed to perfection.

I haven’t been so loving to my spirit.

I wasn’t taught to; yet here I am, unruined.

I haven’t been so loving to my intellect.

I wasn’t taught to; yet here I am, unearthing my truths.

I am blooming from the grave.

From birth:

I was programmed to believe that to be a woman is to be a shameful creature, and I must exist to be tolerable and capable of bearing, or risk living a baneful, wretched existence, on the outskirts of a world committed to catering to idealized perfections, and cities constructed off…

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