Body Scan

It is not lost on me the trees

beneath my feet in tight rectangles.

In fact, my legs are underground

nourished in the cool soil

I wear the earth like a skirt.

I smell worm dirt, rain,

and silk petals cooked deliciously

and swirling between my pubic bone and ilia.

My sound whispers

and the sun drinks the essence

straight to my head. Gathering under

the dome-shaped sky under my little hairs.

Passing my grape stem lungs,

conch shell throat.

My time playing magic in the desert has paid off.

Now look what I am.

I wrote this poem after a meditation session with a dear friend and after a cultivation of intense healing through embodiment practices and meditation. At the time, I was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, feeling unmotivated, and dry physically (inside and out), mentally, and emotionally. This poem marks a moment of inner realization of what still could be discovered within me and how healing could occur.

Today, my outer landscapes are matching my inner workings, and practices light a path to understanding, communing with, and healing this body I so love. Under any circumstance, I now know what embodying my truth feels like and the power it holds. This poem marks a start to growing into myself fully through change and expansion. After a multitude of medical scans my own body scans through meditation have given me the greatest access to understanding.

Aerin