The body keeps the score
This is the same body you touched
Not the same person
But the same nerves
The same veins
The same soul
And yet everything has changed
Seasons gone by
Weight gained and lost
Skin shed into dust
Hair grown, let go, then regrown
And yet, nothing has changed
Inside of me still lives the part of me you crushed
Still holds the part of me you left
Stays the part of me that died
My feet are the same feet that carried me to you
My hands are the same hands that held yours
My heart, the same heart that longed for you
I can no longer trust it when it comes to you
For it is what led me to you, my demise
It stayed yours for years after you broke it
Shards of glass forgotten in the pocket of your black winter coat
My heart, abandoned
My body holds onto what you did to me
That girl you left stays here
Waiting
Almost like she’s waiting
For you to come back
6 thoughts on "The body keeps the score"
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Powerful poem.
I especially like the imagery of shards of glass in a winter coat pocket
I also like the shards of glass in a winter coat pocket. Have you read the book by the same title (The Body Keeps the Score)? It is helpful in healing/understanding the body’s response to trauma and abuse.
Yes I have! That’s partially what inspired this one, thanks for the kind words!
Good images in here “skin shed into dust” “Shards of glass forgotten …” Very nice.
I, too, like “Shards of glass forgotten in the pocket of your black winter coat” and also the honest last three lines
Oh this is so well framed. I love how the first few lines really focus us on how the body DOES move forward… before you center on the concept of “Inside of me still lives the part of me you crushed.” Really well done.
So many of your poems speak right to that same part in me. Heartbreak / abandonment by a person we love is the most wildly painful experience. xx