An unblemished body
A poem by Mel Dunn
Mel Dunn was one of our Summer 2024 Digital Residents. As a part of this program, we give our residents the option to publish an excerpt of their work, write a process piece, or have a Q&A with us. Here, Mel shares a poem that wrote during the residency and shared with her cohort during the Celebratory Reading. To see the other features, visit Well-Crafted, our community blog.
An unblemished body
I once believed that an unblemished body was easier to love
And then I fell head over heels for a tree
The tree is studded so thoroughly with woodpecker holes that you can’t put a single thumbprint on unbroken bark
At some point the branches were all chopped off and forced to regrow, so now thick juicy thigh-branches continue into spindly little calf-branches
I look at this tree every day – really LOOK at it
I see green leaves sprout nonsensically from the middle of the trunk
I watch as it continues to feed the sapsuckers, giving more than its last drop
I watch its tallest branch reach wayyy up in the air without bending, off-kilter from the rest
And when a storm wind comes, and the tree waves and shudders
On the other end of the fishing line
My heart bobs too
