I once believed you were weak
Cheek flushed, voice hushed.
I mustered all I had
To love myself
My downturned mouth,
My sighing eyes,
My anxious breath,
My thick thighs.
Oh, try as I might
The sight of me displeased
The camera lens, my boyfriends, my pretense
But all that didn’t matter.
The ladder, the clatter
Of footfalls as I rise,
Chose to pose myself
As someone I wanted to be.
And I might still fall,
But overall I was so far away
No one would hear anything but my call
I am okay.
I am strong.