Project Description

Body Worship Takes Work

and years and sometimes forgiveness
it takes bribery and solitude
and hands cupped against your breast in gratitude

it takes fingers that mean exist
cascading down to an ass
that feels like a pact

like sustenance like coming
to terms with how wrong you’ve been
it takes loving the stretch marks

along your inner thighs
because they prove
you are growing

because beauty doesn’t mean sacrifice
beauty is finding out
your god is all hips

that her belly is round
sated, hungry
and unapologetic

Bryanna Licciardi

Bryanna Licciardi received an MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is currently pursuing a PhD in Literacy Studies from Middle Tennessee State University. Her debut chapbook Skin Splitting, by Finishing Line Press, was released in 2017. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Bryanna’s work appears in journals such as Poetry Quarterly, BlazeVOX, 491 Magazine, Adirondack Review, and Cleaver Magazine. See bryannalicciardi.com for more.