**********<\/p>\n
This poem was inspired by a conversation i had with my stepdaughter that led me to an incredible poem by Lucille Clifton.\u00a0 Then i watched the videos she posted of some of her poems. And THAT inspired me to finish the poem (well, i think it will need tweaking in time) and get it out here.\u00a0 Thank you, Katya, for your inspiration.<\/em><\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n I stand here naked in all my<\/p>\n turpitude and glory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am not nude. Undressed.<\/p>\n I am naked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nude is artful. Botticelli and his Venus.<\/p>\n Michelangelo and his David.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Salvador Dali and his nude women<\/p>\n melting breasts and hips into<\/p>\n obscurity and notoriety.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My body has stretch marks and<\/p>\n folds. It sags and jiggles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My body has carried children<\/p>\n and pushed them out unhindered<\/p>\n and unaided by man.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n My body has grown, shrank, grown –<\/p>\n carried, nurtured, fought,<\/p>\n and triumphed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don’t pose artfully nude, a<\/p>\n passive model of flesh and bone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nude is demure, serene; a<\/p>\n Madonna and child at rest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Naked is passionate, challenging. Demanding one<\/p>\n to experience life without reserve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I scream and cry and moan out<\/p>\n my pleasures and pains in<\/p>\n waves of ecstasy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n i am stripped of pretense and of<\/p>\n clothing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am naked.\u00a0 And I am up to something.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7 VI 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ********** This poem was inspired by a conversation i had with my stepdaughter that led me to an incredible poem by Lucille Clifton.\u00a0 Then i watched the videos she posted of some of her poems. And THAT inspired me to finish the poem (well, i think it will need tweaking in time) and get it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncedreamed.com\/poetry\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}