DIY Body

I’d like to take a hammer to my hips
reconstruct the splinters with pins and that oozing white glue that never dries
smooth the skin back over the sticky mess and pull it tight with floss and staples
–
my curves to me are mountains
and while your eyes climb them like stepping stones
mine are sick with altitude and arguing at my false reflection
–
So I wrap myself in layers of corduroy and soft sweaters
building false bridges between the summits of my flesh
but summer heat has cruel intentions
and the beading sweat taunts me to cast off and lay bare
the raw fragments of my body
–
I used to carve out my stomach with a spoon,
hoping that my shrinking bones and clothes that fell in puddles at my ankles
would abide what was fast approaching
–
As if pounding nails into my belt
and nurturing an emptiness behind my navel
could somehow postpone my ‘womanhood’
–
I’d like to take a hammer to my hips
break my fragile bones and unwrap my skin with safety scissors
–
I’d like to rearrange my parts,
assemble them with toothpicks and chewed gum,
and while I could never cut along the dotted line,
this time I’d do it right.

By Oliver Leigh

Biography:

Oliver is a 25 year old artist and amateur poet. They are at heart a maker, and spend their days creating in whatever form is accessible, exploring the themes closest to them such as queerness, gender, and mental illness. They have moss colored hair which they describe as a ‘natural green’ as if they themselves had been born from a forest.