My freshly pierced navel swells and sucks through a snug hole in a piece of siding, slightly lifting and lowering a yellow balloon. The rest of the body is concealed and compressed under the board, warping it. My belly is clean, shaved, but sprouting stubble- a pale, stuck, sickly reflection of the balloon floating above.

Belly button: The place where the body is tied off from a bloodline, scrunching into haphazard form, a cute little scar.

Photo credit: Steven Solomon

(Loosely inspired by Claire Pentecost’s Appetites/Sovereignty)