Fearfully and Wonderfully... Dysphoric

I look in the mirror


And see the buzzcut of a lost daughter

Stubble gripping her chin


That sinful fruit wedged in her throat

Choking her


She gasps


Each uttered syllable cracking and aching

Escaping her lips

Shoulders broadening with repugnance

Tear-soaked calloused hands


Gripping a chest that never grew

Skin hardening


Atop the development of bones


A structure that can never be undone

Becoming an abomination before her eyes

Stiffening of her genitals


She desperately hides them away


Dark and thick hair grows down her once

smooth legs


Encasing them in shame

A body matures and morphs before her

Swelling of confusion and bitterness within

her

I gaze in the mirror


I’m empowered as


I see the most recent incarnation of a story

with no ending

He begins to slip away

Each day she becomes

More visible


More real

More tangible

I’m empowered by her will

Not to live


But to thrive

She is alive

by Rae Lee