Show and Tell
Louise Mathewson
She shrugs into her shoulders
the hunchback of Hometown, Illinois
her eyes look down
canīt meet anotherīs gaze
her back curved into a īcī
stomach protrudes
ahead of chest
she canīt digest her life.
She recoiled from living
with a body that refused to die.
Eaten up with shame
she couldnīt swallow,
she couldnīt make sense of,
she couldnīt talk about,
she could only show.
No one understood
what her body tried to show
and tell.
