It Would be Nude Not to

A poem about the human body

Imagine if we were all naked, But otherwise life was the same. Sat with your friends in a cafe, Or on the pitch of a football game.

Your bits just loose and roaming, Flapping freely into the night, Everybody living quite normally, Except — look! — there’s an ass crack in sight.

Wandering through the supermarket, The frozen aisle now The Danger Zone. Bodies malleable, changing shape, Certain parts with a mind of their own.

Lying naked in the dentist’s chair, And then cheerfully he said, “open wide,” Mistakenly, you unlocked elsewhere, “I meant your mouth!” he hastily cried.

I wonder if then we would finally, Love our bodies for what they are. Our cosmic shell, our tender home, Every inch, every hair, every scar.