{"id":200,"date":"2011-03-21T16:10:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T16:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=200"},"modified":"2011-03-21T16:10:21","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T16:10:21","slug":"at-least-says-heather-lenz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/at-least-says-heather-lenz\/","title":{"rendered":"At least says Heather Lenz"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Least<\/span>


I saw the scar in the mirror<\/span>
last night after showering.<\/span>
The bandage finally released<\/span>
from my skin & I<\/span>

ran my fingers along<\/span>
my breast, moving <\/span>
forward & sideways to inspect<\/span>
the shape & I thought<\/span>

of all the pretty women<\/span>
in magazines, on internet<\/span>
profiles & in restaurants<\/span>
like Hooters.<\/span>

I remembered being 23<\/span>
fully nude on the stage<\/span>
at the strip club where<\/span>
everything was fantasy.<\/span>

I remembered a man<\/span>
who once loved me & how<\/span>
his mouth would move like<\/span>
a slow rhythm across my<\/span>

smooth & perky tits &<\/span>
how perfectly he cupped them<\/span>
in his hands like they were<\/span>
the epitome of art.<\/span>

Looking at the scar I could<\/span>
see the ugly texture smile<\/span>
at me. Laugh & say hey girl,<\/span>
you better keep the lights<\/span>
 <\/span>
off from here on out, you<\/span>
better keep your bra on if<\/span>
you ever plan to love again.<\/span>
You better start changing<\/span>

the way you undress or how<\/span>
you let a man undress you.<\/span>
You better be prepared to<\/span>
explain & say hey, at least<\/span>

I am not dying. At least there<\/span>
is still something to kiss,<\/span>
& I am so accustomed to being<\/span>
small, that it doesn't shrink me<\/span>

down much at all. & don't you<\/span>
think it quite lovely how one<\/span>
can gather so many scars &<\/span>
live to tell about them? & then<\/span>

you can hope he says yes yes<\/span>
you are beautiful with all your<\/span>
scars & baggage & the way<\/span>
you've lived to tell it all<\/span>

is like rain falling on the limbs<\/span>
of trees in winter & a fire<\/span>
burning & weeping ethereal<\/span>
colors straight into my heart.<\/span>



* Heather Lenz<\/span> says “I have work upcoming in <\/span>Calliope Nerve, Like A Fat Gold Watch<\/span> and <\/span>Dope Magazine<\/span>. I am currently Poetry Editor for <\/span>First Step Press Online<\/span>.”

<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At LeastI saw the scar in the mirrorlast night after showering.The bandage finally releasedfrom my skin & Iran my fingers alongmy breast, moving forward & sideways to inspectthe shape & I thoughtof all the pretty womenin magazines, on internetprofiles & in restaurantslike Hooters.I remembered being 23fully nude on the stageat the strip club whereeverything was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}