Learning to Love | Teen Ink

Learning to Love MAG

July 12, 2013
By EthicalDilemma SILVER, San Luis Obispo, California
EthicalDilemma SILVER, San Luis Obispo, California
8 articles 0 photos 2 comments

I learned to love by sleeping naked
in the dark
by myself
Nobody would tell me that I was
beautiful on the flipside of my elbow
I had to discover that on my own
as I groped in my closed-eye blindness
for something comforting
and found that in shared vulnerability
of elbow and mind
we could protect each other and be loved.
On my own,
I learned to love my shoulders
for they could let me turn away
and face the sun
and bask in the warmth
and I didn't have to see the chill on my back
My hands became my most prized
possessions
with their dexterity
and sensitivity
I was able to find the parts of me that
were beautiful,
calm my beating heart
and let the rest of my body join my eyes
in blindness


The author's comments:
Moonlight is a beautiful thing. It served me in illuminating and elucidating why I loved body. For a lot of guys, the idea of self-esteem destroys their faux-macho image, because for a boy, self-esteem is supposed to be just the case. Not so. While boys are less likely to be anorexic and have other chronic self-esteem-related issues, guys still have trouble learning to love themselves.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


on Jan. 5 2015 at 10:07 pm
ScreenName098 GOLD, New York City, New York
10 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." -Dr. Seuss

You write poems so beautifully! This poem was really touching and quite relatable as well.