Stripes

Stripes


I used to hate them
These angry red lines
Upon my flesh
The skin pulled taut
Stretching and expanding
In the push and pull of life
The changes to my body
The sags and bags
The ugly scars on my skin
That run hip to hip
From the urgency of birth
I used to hate these lines
Because they changed me
My perception of myself
Into something I was not
I was no longer me
As I became someone else
So I took the lines
The scars
The sliced up and slivered 
Parts of me
And made them whole
Now I am strong
Stronger than I ever was before
And I bare my marks proudly
I have earned every last one 
Of my stripes


Words: ©2020LCR 
Image: ©Lionsandcie
Submitted to: The Sunday Muse #107

Comments

  1. It can be a rough journey finding ourselves. This is so beautifully rendered Lori! I have a line in mine quite similar to one of yours. I guess great minds think alike. 🤩As always it is a pleasure to have you join us at the Muse!

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    1. Thank you so much. :) Part of it for me was thinking I knew exactly who I was and then having this radical shift as my role changed, from being a daughter to being a mother... I had so much more appreciation for all the things my mom did for me. As well as all the physical changes that happened during that time as well, at points it doesn't even feel like you're living in your own skin. It takes time to see yourself as this new person. It is rather wild. :)

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  2. It takes years and much experience to really find yourself. You express this perfectly.

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  3. Your tremendously honest and beautifully composed poem sent chills up and down my body. Brava.

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  4. This is nice Lori. Stretch marks of motherhood are badges of honor. Stretch marks from losing weight proudly we hide.
    .
    Stripes, scars, and warts
    The toll of war
    Daily I fight
    p.s. It used to be pimples, now there are brownish red splotches come where they choose or I bruise. Toll of blood thinners and aspirin.
    ..

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    1. Always a work in progress. Ever changing.

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  5. Brilliant -- to take the lines and scars of your skin and their life and make a tiger out of them. Well done.

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  6. YES! We earn our stripes. And the motherhood stripes, that hurt the most, we wear most proudly. Heads bloody but unbowed, as they say. Smiles.

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  7. Taking the scraps and making the quilt makes an ever stronger you. Bravo!

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