Susan King - Necessary Parts

She was just a girl
twelve
bronze and thin
like Degas Dancer
her eyes told a truth
her mouth couldn't utter
her shell hand-made
artificial and imperfect
cracked enough
for me to see
what she once was
a woman with no breasts
who pissed like a man
but she had no penis
she had lost blood
traded for food
I tore out half of my heart
and placed it in her palm
she broke her form frowned
she was dying then
a teenage woman who
having been hunter
warrior and prey
survived scattered into
rugged pieces recognized
only by the same
as necessary parts
A work in progress
who would transform
breaking and reshaping
the mold until it represented
the whole horror
of refined beauty

Susan King

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/necessary-parts/