Modern Illusion #15,073
Why do we fear the smell of bodies?
Do we have to shroud ourselves,
fragranced with sandalwood,
Chanel number five, and shame.
Do we fear the smell of bodies
so much that we must train our
tweens to assimilate, scrub, and shave;
that they must smell like irish springs?
We fear the smell of bodies.
Our genitalia has to smell
like store-bought candy before
our body is worthy of love.
Fear the smell of bodies,
we are told in middle school
hallways, you’ll always
remember that first time.
The smell of bodies
is the smell of humans.
Were we always this
mortified of our baseline?
Smell of bodies,
a problem that
needs to be fixed,
Unacceptable as is.
Of bodies,
we our housed;
our souls at least.
Bodies.
They are almost
universally a
source of shame.
About the Creator
Art from the Middle Distance
My creations, for you.
Keep reading
More stories from Art from the Middle Distance and writers in Poets and other communities.
It's not that deep
it’s not that deep you tell your classmates when they point out your sour mood. but it is that deep. the kind of gut wrenching deep that you feel when your parents said, “We need to talk.” the kind of dizzying deep you felt when your mom, tears and snot streaming down her throat, couldn't choke the words out so your dad, stoic, spat it out: “Your sister’s boyfriend crashed the subaru. He was drunk.” the kind of deep dark circles under their eyes. the kind of deep silence and all at once you know she’s gone. the kind of deep that you feel when you need therapy but your parents can’t afford it so you hold the tears in, but, like vomit, they find their way out in the middle of the night. “How did you manage to get it on the pillow, comforter, and the carpet?”
By Art from the Middle Distance2 years ago in Poets
The Pride Flag and the Diversion
For nearly a decade, the LGBTQIA Pride Flag rippled in the wind at Christopher Park, a kaleidoscope of color staked into the soil of America’s first national monument to LGBTQIA+ liberation. That flag came down this week. Federal officials, citing new guidance from the Trump Administration, silently lowered the rainbow flag from its pole across the street from the Stonewall Inn. The birthplace of the modern gay rights movement now flies only the United States flag.
By Tim Carmichael6 days ago in Pride
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.