I have built an altar on my chest Of drawers, dedicated to my body, I will no longer host vigils for my Eighteen-year-old self’s goblet hips. Nobody will drink wine from my collarbones The brewery closed down.
I shall free my insides from their imprisonment Skinny jean lacerations will no longer Form scars along my waistband And stretch mark vines will be free to reach skyward No longer eclipsed by hoodies.
These walls are a place of worship.
Etched on its surface are murals and tapestries That don’t make sense to be together: Mosaics made of shattered glass and blood drawn from mercury. The curtains hang open; the light caress these silver veins.
Greet those who may grovel at my doors To be privileged with the password And the secrets hidden beneath Each cracked stone and chip in the floorboards
These walls are a place of worship.
An altar that decays beneath the fragments of a skylight Bathes in the light of my praises Where droplets of waxy quartz pool onto the table Adding candlestick supernovas to coffee ring planets
My temple is a place of worship.
Imogen. L. Smiley (she/her) is a twenty-three-year-old writer from Essex, UK. She has anxiety, depression and an endless love of dogs, especially big ones!
You can support her by following her on Twitter and Instagram at @Imogen_L_Smiley.