Jessica Lynn, 4/18/2016

Current Occupation: Marketing Assistant
Former Occupation: Waitress
Contact Information: Jessica Lynn is a 23-year-old marketing assistant from Randolph, NJ.  She has loved writing ever since she was little and wants to one day make a career out of it.  Jessica's prior publication credits include Pif Magazine, Madras Mag, and Artifact Nouveau, among others.  In her spare time, Jessica enjoys reading, drinking wine, and cuddling her pets.  If you would like to connect with her further, please find her at @JessTheWriter33.

 

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Most Days I Love

My Body, Except

When I Really Don’t

 

Today I sit at the table

at work.  Around me,

people talk, chattering

faster than the wind

blowing outside

which knocks tree branches

against the half-opened

screen door in the kitchen.

 

Alone in my wind-battered

thoughts, I drink apple cider

so cold

it cracks my lips

like a window.

 

My feet ache

the same ache

as one thousand other working women

who sink into their couch

after their shifts

and wonder if this is all

that life is meant to be,

 

and I remember last night

when I cried silently

to the face in the mirror,

    when I cursed the hips

    and the non-flat stomach

peering back at me.

 

There are scars on my

ankles wrists shoulders

from the days where it hurt

to trust myself.

 

So today, staring down

at the place in my thighs

with no gap, and my hint of stomach

underneath my shirt,

I love my strong body, able

to keep walking forward

even when the earth is giving out.