Breast Reduction Surgery

by Kim Lefort

My breasts

weigh

me

down

Curve my back

Bruise my shoulders

Smother my ribs

Into the shape of female desirability

Skin and fat spill from my hands

as I try to grasp at my self-worth

Male gaze

Male touch

Male lips

heavied womanhood

If pain is currency for beauty

How can you explain the poverty

of my love reflected in the mirror.

But tomorrow the doctor will cut away

the patriarchal mass in my breasts

and I will take my first breath

of self-love, whole-chested.

***

Kim Lefort (she/her) is an aspiring writer based in Montreal, Canada. Her work has been published in the McGill student journal Samizdat. She likes frogs, folklore, and urban agriculture.