In Their Own Words
Laurin Becker Macios on “This is the body”
This is the body
I inhabit
but feel as though I float above,
I noticed if I mistakenly
slowed down.
It has two arms, two legs, a head
of tied-back hair.
I observed it taking tests,
filing papers, pouring coffee
as though I was in it,
as though it needed nothing
it didn’t have.
I was in awe
of how simple it seemed,
how it put one foot
before the other.
How a song might lift
from its tongue as though invoked,
as though it could go on
without me.
From Calling Me Home (Holiday House, 2026) reprinted with permission.
On “This is the body”
“This is the body” appears 165 pages into Calling Me Home, my Young Adult verse novel recently released with Holiday House. The first-person poem describes the depression the main character, 18-year-old Jenny Campbell, is experiencing—how detached she’s feeling from her own existence.
I highlight this poem from the manuscript because of its subtle way of advancing the narrative while simply describing Jenny’s emotional state. In a verse novel, each poem must work on its own, yet propel the reader forward. This poem is one of very few poems I had actually written a version of years before I worked on Calling Me Home. When I got to this point in the narrative, I remembered it—almost heard it in Jenny’s voice—and rifled back through a notebook of old drafts to find it. With a few edits, Jenny showed me how it was hers.
