a poet’s notebook

BEAUTY, UGLINESS, & INVISIBILITY

   

BEAUTY, UGLINESS, & INVISIBILITY

   

BEAUTY, UGLINESS, & INVISIBILITY

For Take A Word: beauty. Elements from Crafty Button Designs, Forever Joy, Gabi’s Creations, Captivated Visions, Dawn Inskip, and Lynne-Marie. Fonts are Klee CapScript, Sweetly Broken, & Another Typewriter.

The journaling is an excerpt from an old blog post at Watermark

***

I have been, in my life, beautiful and invisible; and fat (in this time, in this place — ugly) and invisible. Old and invisible. Female and not beautiful, and invisible. Female and beautiful, and invisible. So many of us are looked at, but not seen. So many of us look, but do not see.

And so we live our secret, invisible lives.

When I try to imagine how others see me, I give up in despair. I am always likely to reach the worst conclusions — occasionally confirmed by experience — that I am seen as fat, ugly, old, and uninteresting. Fat and stupid — synonyms in our language. Old and boring — the same.

But I know that I am not stupid; I know that I am not boring. I know that, in fact, I am sometimes — often, even — seen as scary. I take up too much space, in every sense. I am large. My mind is large. My body is large. And my self is large.

Better had I been male — but this is not something I've ever wanted. The room, the space, the freedom that men have — that I've wanted. The freedom to look at a man straight-on, instead of, attentively, up — that — I've wanted.

***

   

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6 responses to “BEAUTY, UGLINESS, & INVISIBILITY”

  1. Lori Saul Avatar

    Powerful words of wisdom and yes beauty. The beauty of knowing oneself as you really are is the most powerful tool we have. Love your expressive collage as well.

  2. Bev Avatar

    Once upon a time I was active in the Toastmasters group, and I gave a speech called “What you see is what you get”. The concept was others see you as you perceive yourself, and the secret to a happy life is first to learn to love yourself. Not always the easiest thing to do. Your beautiful post reminded me of that speech. Thank you!

  3. Deann Williams Avatar
    Deann Williams

    Beautiful artwork love the colors. I can so relate to your words especially being invisible myself, because of the digital age I am now able to shop all day long among hundreds of people buy every thing I need and never interact with anyone.
    A very thoughtful and beautiful post, thank you.

  4. Sim Lignon Avatar

    Strong words and powerful concepts.
    They carry such wisdom.
    Each one is facing itself.
    I love your colours and imagery too.

  5. michele s Avatar

    your images and your words carry such depth and beauty. that confirm for me that you are deeply beautiful. xo

  6. Ann Baker Avatar
    Ann Baker

    This is awesome in every single way.

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