Draw myself
from behind
body of a baby
owl sleeping
arms limp
the small
of my back
yes
turn over
childbearing
hips like
grandmother said
we bled for
the original sin
brackets around
sentence drenched
it’s fake
run
pen over
thigh
line wider and wider
leave a gap for
the imagination
the pause
before you go
under
can’t look
roast potatoes
would be nice later
draw big
areolae
remind myself
my breasts
have an underside
a lump
in my throat
as I check for
hated them touched
now I don’t
watch
my skin fade
colour my teeth
into lips
draw curtain
for hiding
off the page
amorphous
play-doh
make me
in the image
of Goddess
of Woman
or something
that passes
Nora Blascsok
Nora Blascsok writes poetry and lives by the sea. Her poems have appeared in Streetcake Magazine, Cypress Poetry, Pink Plastic House, Perhappened, Daily Drunk Mag and a couple of print anthologies. Her work is due out in BABEL BOARD later this year and in Dreich and a Broken Sleep Books anthology in early 2021.
About This Poem
Draw Myself started out as an ekphrastic poem about a drawing of myself but ended up being about the process of drawing myself and the various forces at play when it comes to the relationship with and (self)-perception of my body as a woman.