Renaissance Painting in a Bathtub

I wish to be
As comfortable in my skin
As my eight-year-old niece in the bathtub
She hasn’t understood the cruelty of
Fat
Eaten the word skinny till she bleeds it in the mirror
No one has ever grabbed her stomach
And stretched it out to show
Every micro detail and mistake
As the light shines through tinted red
She hasn’t learned to forgive her body
For uneven boobs
Small unseen hairs on her hands
And hips all sigogglin
She hasn’t been an object
She hasn’t understood what it is
To feel sin
Creep up your thighs as your mouth
Betrays you
She is simply as innocent as if she were not alive
In this state covered in shampoo
No shame
For things she has yet to do

Audrey Nidiffer is an emerging Appalachian poet currently pursuing a BA in Creative Writing from Appalachian State University. While she has no fancy credits to her name she hopes to keep building her resume driven by the same passion that keeps her writing. She is proudly of the mountains, like her “shaped by time and language.”