Investigations of the Self and Love

I told myself last week that I was pretty,

that my body was not merely bone and blood,

but something worth fawning over.

That affirmation does not always feel true,

at times it feels baseless, as if it were

but a speck of dust that a burst of wind

could uproot in an instant.

I am not the woman I want to be

Truth changes daily, and whenever

the nights get long, I try to unravel

the thoughts that slump my shoulders.