The Ceremony

Take the nail of your thumb
Place it at the base of your throat
Feel the warm, hollow vulnerability
Your heart beats between the bones

Trace a line down your torse
Across your sternum
Over your abdomen
Through your bellybutton
Into the cradle of your hips

Breathe into the soft-hard-softness of your body
Exhale the warmth coming off of your skin
Watch your chest, your belly heave with every breath
The line you traced turns pale, then red

See your self bisected
Not quite symmetrical
Wonder how it looks from the inside
Imagine lightness pouring from you
Illuminate the flesh
Becoming new

Take the pad of your index finger
Place it at the top of your pubic mound
Drag it upward, through forgiving fatty tissue
Past poking ribs
Between sagging breasts
Feel yourself quiver at your own purposeful touch

Press the hollow between your collarbones
Your heart asks you a question
Pleads with you
Appeals to your sense of self
Blood rushes through your veins

You take the blade of a razor
Trace the pink and angry line
Reborn.