Dawn Thoughts 2
See notes for image information
I once despised dawn
today I am glad of it
opportunity
new thoughts I can imagine
old pain I can put to rest
~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~
Image by Frauke Riether from Pixabay
notes and prompts
Told ya I was gonna keep on truckin' with the ekphrastic poems! Find the info below.
I created the header image by layering two photos and using special effects from Pixlr.com
Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1938.6
Ancestral Commemorative Head (uhunmwun-elao)
possibly mid-1500s or early 1600s
Nigeria, Benin Kingdom, Ẹdo peoples, members of the Igun Eronmwon (royal brasscasters) guild
https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/2022-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-15
Write a thoughtful or thoughtless poem. I think today's Tanka is pretty thoughtful.
Write in praise.
Write an aubade. An aubade is a poem about dawn. It has no specific rhyme or rhythm scheme.
Today's aubade praises the dawn, something I never thought I'd do again in this lifetime.
"Well, who hates the dawn, Ornery, you crusty old owl-crab? What kind of misanthropic curmudgeon doesn't love to see the sun come up on a new day?"
One who knows they probably have yet another day of bullying and abuse to look forward to.
One who will go to a job they hate.
One who is grieving.
One who is traumatized.
Someone whose first waking thoughts are abusive rhetoric that has been drilled into their psyche. It has only been during this past year that my first thoughts on waking haven't been something along the lines of "you fat, disgusting pig, nobody could possibly love anything that looks like you. Eww, you're so gross! Why don't you just stop eating, Fatty?"
I didn't stop having these thoughts because I lost a semi truckload worth of weight and now I have a "revenge body." What a wretched concept. I'll likely always be fat unless my zombie thyroid suddenly revives and revs up my metabolism to transwarp 666 gazillion parsecs per nanosecond, turning me from a portly and perpetually pissed-off prairie witch to a svelte Borg siren existing for the sole purpose of serving man.
In other words, not gonna happen.
Nope, I finally realized how horrible and shitty diet culture really is and concluded that anyone hell-bent on judging a person based on their physical appearance rather than their personality is someone whose opinion matters no more to me than a gnat's fart in a category 15 hurricane. In other words, less than not at all.
This realization was even more freeing than the day I decided I was tired of being blonde and stopped bleaching my hair to hide the gray. I started going gray at 27. I have thick, somewhat coarse hair that tends to be resistant to coloring, so I started bleaching it. My hair became very dry and brittle, having the approximate texture of straw, and it was falling out. I decided I no longer gave any fucks about people thinking I'm (gasp) old, and I dropped the bleach habit.
I used henna to color my hair for a while, not because I cared about hiding the gray but because I found it fun to dye my hair different wild shades of blonde, brown, black, or red. Unfortunately, I developed an allergy to henna, which caused big flakes and scabs to form on my scalp. I now use silver brightening shampoo and a color-depositing conditioner to enhance the silver tones. I'm pleased with how shiny and soft my hair is since I started this routine.
I really don't care if anyone thinks someone else's physical appearance is unattractive or "unhealthy." Let's face it, the "for your health" screed really isn't about health. It's code for "but fat people are ugly and you have such a pretty face and if you'd just lose (insert arbitrary amount of weight here) you'd be fuckable." People are going to think what they're going to think. The more enlightened among us check our prejudices and call ourselves out on our bullshit.
People's bodies are nobody's business but their own. If you feel the urge to insult someone's appearance, whether simply to be hurtful or because you believe you're being "helpful," I suggest taking ten steps in the other direction and going in search of your beeswax elsewhere. Other people's bodies are none of your beeswax.
Nobody deserves the dawn thoughts I woke up to for decades. Don't be the person who awakens such thoughts in someone else.
Here is some gorgeous background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.
Here is the link in case you can't see the player.
But wait, there's more!
Once again, here's the link in case you can't see the player.
Building this post is taking a while. Here's some more background music from Mirror's Edge Catalyst.
Here's the link in case you can't see the player.
