Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing
Melissa Weaver
Here is the church,
there is the steeple, open
the doors and see all
my rib bones, muscles that still
pull and hold me.
Here are my nails, whose ridges
made my breath catch, see them
grown as smooth as stones again.
Here are two tracks of scars,
parallel over my pelvis, trace them, Heart,
proof that Iām mother, not child. Here
is the neck knot that burst like my waters,
as I birthed pain with pen and memory. Here
are the breasts that bled feeding, their needing
crushing, and see them shiver
with pleasure when other hands
and mouth meet them.
Here is the brain that can spin
horror stories, see it find all
the beautiful marrow
we might have missed.
Melissa Weaver
Poet & Creative
Melissa is a former English and ESL teacher. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where she cares for her husband and three young children. Her first chapbook Welcome, Stranger: Poems of Making and Keeping Our Children, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021. Her work has appeared in The Christian Century, Bravery Magazine, Mothers Always Write, Anabaptist Witness, The Anabaptist Journal of Australia and New Zealand, and Transforming, a publication of Virginia Mennonite Missions.
Photography by Bergkinder