The Shape of Our Bodies

My body is and isn't shaped like my mother's –
our breasts, yes, the same circles of fat unhinged
from the rest of the body, floating in a space
outside of us where we dare think beautiful.
Her mouth, I got too, the upper lip that curls inward,
the shadow space we paid to close between our front teeth.
But my body is and isn't shaped like my mother's –
her nose, a button, mine, a triangle, pointed
like a witch's, reaching out for air, for space
that hers – small, unattended – can't enter. 







Emily Lake Hansen received an MFA from Georgia College & State University. Her work has previously appeared in Atticus Review and the Agnes Scott Writer's Festival Magazine and is forthcoming in The Fertile Source.