Belly

You strut your stuff

belly puffed out

with utter joy.

Marvelling at

its mounding

roundness.

I suck

mine in.

I would spit venom at anyone who

would dare tar you with shame.

I groan, pinch and pull

at this new expanse of myself

that swelled and stretched and bloomed

to grow and birth and nurture you.

My hypocrisy eats at my bones like acid.

Little by little, with gentle touch, I learn

to hold myself like I hold you

To cherish my softness.

To strut my stuff.

To let my belly breathe.