shame: a ghazal in pieces

a body should have its wildness yes this body yes your body who are they to name your body my body a shame body shame my weight shame your weight shame how i look shame how you look shame my disease shame my story say we have made ourselves sick we keep ourselves sick what is the blame body would it be easier if my body did not exist if your body did not exist if all our diabetic bodies did not exist oh we will not blame my body blame our bodies when my body has only done everything it could to survive my body is a flame body alive with fire fire pulsing inside shouting live live live my story which is only triumphant because i am still here neither pain nor shame will erase me or silence me there are poems here too here in the places where all maps end your body has survived my body has survived i will not be ashamed of surviving

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From Blood Sugar Canto
(Saddle Road Press, 2016)