The Curves and Edges of Life

Today I took a good look at my body,

Stretch marks, making roads on the map.

Cellulite, the craters on the moon.

White, the snow.

Curves, hills next to the straight roads.

Birthmarks, paint splatters on the white canvas.

Hair, the grass peeping through the cracks on the sidewalk.

It was grotesque,

beautifully ugly.

In my eyes, my body was the ugliest thing

you could look at.

But this time I didn't look with my eyes.

I looked tragically beautiful.

The beauty was in the essence of the 

admiration of my small imperfections.

In my eyes, it added to the disgust.

But in my other perspective, flaws are to

 be admired.

Who said they were to be flaws in the first place?

Why not all beautiful?

Who created all these standards?

Who said stretch marks aren't a mark

of beauty?

My body is beautifully horrifying,

with all its complexities and curves and edges.

I am learning to embrace myself in 

my own skin,

Because my own kin can't come to

appreciate it.

Now I invite everyone,

To embrace their own skin,

Because that is what you are made for.

- Sarah Sheikh

BSc. FND