How To Make Love To Someone Who Doesn't Love Themselves

Do not take it personally if I shy away

hands covering the parts

you really want to see

but I can't let you see me

You are not the first

and probably not the last

but every time hurts like its the first,

and every person is dark

and every one an out of body experience

It's hard to care for what you do not love

so do not stare at the scars

as you paint my body with your tongue

they are a road map of where I have been,

where I am and where I never want to be

Actions acting on actions

because they speak louder than words,

and I have so much to say

So in the silence, watch how my body sways

what I want and what I let you do

will not always be the same

Your kink is not my consent

but i'll let you have your way

i'm just trying to make it through the night

I'm just hoping that you'll stay

Do not say things to me like, "I think you're beautiful, so you are"

and "I want you, so you are worth something"

because when you leave 

so does my beauty and worth

How can you build on broken ground?

How can addictions make love?

How can shadows make love?

How can rejection make love?

Your body is a cathedral 

that I find refuge in,

seeking a higher power inside you

hailing Mary for her ability to lie

with Joseph and love herself

without the validation of his fingertips

I am looking for a savior,

something to fill the space with, 

empty compliments and promises,

someone who can bring light to vacant eyes

and rescue me from myself

I am not asking you to love me

I cannot expect that of you,

I just would like to know

if you approve

of the slope of my eyes?

the fullness of my lips?

the dimples in my cheek?

the dip of my hips?

Do you know what it took for me

to come here?

Baring all that I loathe

as I slowly drop my clothes

eyes like razors

cutting me deep as you analyze

me from head to feet

Do you know the journey I have traveled

the seven Hells that I crossed

just to bring myself to your mouth?

You will never understand

until you've felt what it's like

to want to shed your own skin

You can never comprehend

how it feels to give away body

that's not really yours

You will never know

what its like to make love to someone

even though you don't know how to love yourself

I am learning

Reviews

[terry smith]

The things that happen to you are not you,they are a part of you but you are more than that...they are yesterday and you are tomorrow, if a rose gets cut down it will regrow the next year,release the demons and know you are worthy of great things, like love.

[Relic's Bare Trees]

I see it as someone looking to heal both mentally and spiritually. She is vulnerable because she does not think highly of herself because of past experiences, but she wants the closeness nevertheless. This is a very deep poem. More than I can add words to. Even though it is spoken in minute detail, it seems there are words the speaker may not find because she cannot find the real her. I'm speaking too much. This is a great poem.

[Tinotenda Nyevedzanai]

This poem needs some grammar corrections but other than that I really love the young, naiive immature feel to it you get the feeling of a girl insecure and so sleeping around or having sex before she is old enough and understands what sex is, this is also able to demonstrate the vulnerablity of a woman trying to have sex again after she has been raped or gone through some other trauamtic experience to her esteem. I really like the idea well done - ATC