Words by Luca Rudenstine PZ ’26

11/23/22

I just couldn’t watch another woman
hate herself anymore
I trimmed off her strong tender skin 
its cloth falling at my feet.

And hung it up in her closet like an
old work blouse
Without a body there was no more 
suffering. She was a goddess. 

I used to wake up mornings,
limping back to the chapel room 
my scale, a church
Mounting my feet on it like a cross 
and worshiping my weight. 

So one day I took to the mirror with
a blanket and
smothered her till she became so mu-
ffled
I could barely hear her sharp words.
Oh fuck that mirror, 
she hardly had anything good to say.

02/04/23

Beauty wears wings and it
migrates
through me.
God has teeth and trims
the gravity from
my feet
I can feel myself lifting
off the sidewalk

01/28/24:I strengthen my body so
that I may
be a steady vessel for my emotions

So that I may hold space for
what I’m feeling as I give it
permission to flow through me

my strength creates ease

I do not wish to silence what
brings discomfort

my hope is to offer myself
refuge within this body I know
to be my home

this is a subtle distinction, but a 
meaningful one