I am an expert in not seeing –
my eyes can slide from face to belly
without registering what’s between –
smooth as the cool glass in the mirror –
they don’t stop
I am skilled in the fine art
of ignoring. I don’t see the thin line
where the blade bit me. I don’t see
the surgeon’s skill
there is no feeling
that line marks me, scrawled across my skin,
but under it there is the beauty
of scalpel, needle, years of training –
all those years of study given to me
by his steady hand
and my clean cells linking binding,
their interdigitation, their blind purpose,
has its own beauty. My skin weaving itself
my muscles cleaving to each other
in a blue womb.
Mish is hosting at dVerse tonight and asks us to look for the beauty in ugliness. Sometimes that’s hard to do.
My last one was by cesarean section and the nurses kept inciting me to look at the beautiful job the obstetrician had done. I never could bear to look at that red seam with the spiky tufts of stitches in it.
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The thing is, I’ve looked at other people’s scars and thought “That’s a beautiful piece of work, that’s a work of art, really” – but not my own. It’s hard to see it.
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Mine’s disappeared now but I used to wash myself with averted gaze. I could feel the scar tissue and it gave me gooseflesh.
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This is a stellar thing… to appreciate the scar the scalpel left… maybe it’s the healing and the way you have mended… the closing made me think of a cesarean just like Jane writes.
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Thank you, Bjorn. I was thinking of healing as a kind of rebirth of the self, but I can see why you both thought of caesareans, and it’s a nice added layer.
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Scars are beautiful – they tell stories and usually the best ones because they show we have survived – we have something to show for the pain.Stunning language in the lines:
‘…my clean cells linking binding,
their interdigitation, their blind purpose,
has its own beauty’.
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I like that “blue womb” at the end.
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Scars as evidence of talented hands, a wealth of education seamed in that scar….
Interesting timing here….did you read of Princess Eugenie’s wedding (royal family) — and her dress that she deliberately had designed with a bare back to show the scar from a scoliosis surgery she had as a child?
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I did see that! Maybe that was floating S round in there somewhere, too.
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I have scars myself and I do appreciate the work done by these dedicated men and women after years of training. I like that your skin is weaving, muscles cleaving and healing again,
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The scar is much better than the alternative!
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the line – they don’t stop was such a powerful one for me. we do dwell on ugly too long and your words tell me, all the imperfections do make up a beautiful person and personality. this poem really grows on me as i re read it a few times
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Our scars, as our gray hairs and wrinkles, are badges of endurance and, hopefully, joi de vivre!
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Scars – they are evidence of a life lived instead of passing blandly through. I look at my hysterectomy scar often. I look at it in awe because it means cancer was taken away.
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Yes i know of scars and surgeons’ skill. Having had 2 abdominal surgeries in my lifetime. I wear bathing suits but not bikinis☺
Nice obe Sara
Much❤💛❤love
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A beautiful poem and description of going beyond the superficial. The skill and beauty of the incision is really amazing. Well done.
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This moves me deeply. The perspective changes when a scar represents healing, life and the skills of others who contributed to it all.
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How beautifully you have dissected the scar, revisioned it, and birthed it into something new.
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Beautiful Faces
Ugliest Invisible
Scars
Without
Ability to Love
Often Absent With
No Request
Or
Respite
oF Emptiness
Ugliest Cancers
againinvisiblewithin
No Empathy or
Compassion
From others
For this Humanity
DisEase oF UGliest Fall.
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The vulnerability of scars and the bravery in acknowledging their beauty. This poem is about these. So good.
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Scars can have a beauty in the mending, knowing there is a healing and healing is beauty. I really like this line “blind purpose, has its own beauty.”
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Yes, it can be a challenge to discover the beauty in scars. How fulfilling when we can! I enjoyed your provocative write! 🙂
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That blue womb of the surgery is a powerful image to leave with. I like how you have your cells blindly weaving together for some greater purpose beyond their understanding. I marvel that surgeons are able to do what they do but I have never before considered the inner workings beautiful. You are able to see what I never could.
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I have a scar, and it’s so hard to find now that when I went back to the surgeon for follow-up, she praised herself, saying, “God, I’m good!” I don’t normally take God’s name in vain, but I smile every time I think back to that day… thankful for the scar, the skill of the surgeon, and the present quality of life they represent. Without the surgery which left that scar, I wouldn’t be here today.
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I love this story!
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I love the idea of finding beauty in the skill behind the healing. Also love, blue womb.
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