Body Dysmorphia

This means I cannot tell where my body ends
and the rest of the world begins.

I am my own government, my own strictest censor.
I tell myself I have had enough to eat, open my mouth
and one thousand goldfish with cellophane scales
scrape from my throat. 

When I have sex in front of the mirror
with the businessman it is not delicate
but I cannot feel a thing.
I am terrifically powerful that way.

My mind is smooth and sharp as a cliff.
I cannot slip. I will not fall.
I spin along the edge.

These uncharted hips are for having babies,
balancing moving boxes, and shaking in the dark to good stuff.

They mark my equator, which it is forbidden to cross on the Sabbath,

to force me to rest and eat boiled chicken with my hands
in the garden with extended family,

            the children running excitedly after the cats, pulling at their tails.  

Danna Weiss is an American poet based in Dubai. She has recently had work published in Mudlark, San Pedro River Review, and New Contrast (South Africa). Her poetry concerns gender and she is in the process of editing her first collection of poems, Cannibalism Among Girls. She is founder and editor of Dubai's first personal blog on art and pop culture, http://dannawrites.com.