06/07/2026
If my body is a temple, it is my temple.
I have said the prayers
I have burned the incense
I have thrown out the moneychangers
I have consecrated and dedicated it by my will, for my pleasure.
If my body is a temple, it is my temple.
If my body is a vessel, it is my vessel.
I have sailed to the isle of the sirens and learned from them their secrets.
I have outsmarted the Cyclops,
Slipped past Scylla snd Charybdis,
And I have returned to Ithaca and thrown out the intruding vipers there.
If my body is a vessel, it is my vessel.
If my body is a matrix, my va**na a passageway,
Then I am she who guards the gate.
The river Styx flows between my thighs
And I am Charon in a rust-colored skiff with eyes aflame
Straddling the crossing between living and dead.
If my body is a wonderland,
I am the Queen of Hearts, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and Alice.
If my body is a work of art, I am marble, chisel, and sculptor.
If my body is a means of production, I have seized it.
If my body is a country, I am its sovereign.
But my body is not
a temple
a vessel
a matrix
a wonderland
a sculpture
a means of production
a country
salvation
or damnation
My body is not an object to which I am subject.
My body is
me.
~ Aubrie Colburn Weber, “Objectification”
©2018 by Aubrie Colburn Weber
Art: Taynee Tinsley
Taynee