Louise Mathewson

She shrugs into her shoulders
the hunchback of Hometown, Illinois
her eyes look down
can´t meet another´s gaze
her back curved into a ´c´
stomach protrudes
ahead of chest
she can´t digest her life.

She recoiled from living
with a body that refused to die.
Eaten up with shame
she couldn´t swallow,
she couldn´t make sense of,
she couldn´t talk about,
she could only show.

No one understood
what her body tried to show
and tell.