An anonymous submission/poem

I cut it out of me
I cut it out and I didn’t look down
I didn’t speak nor did I change my mind
It was done
Infinitely, deliberately, beautiful
It was gone

Out of me, you are
You small bump of human suffering
I saved you from this hellhole
A universe of female bodies being legislated
Where my humanity shreds itself apart
I will be scrutinized and torn into pieces for this action of mine

I don’t care
You are gone and I am placated
Still and absurdly I carry on
You are gone and I am okay
How do we count the stars if they are so far away? How do we find patterns in the vastness, ever?
You are gone and I live

As if my body did not belong to

them.