Nocturnal Issue V | Page 20

HOW DO YOU OWN YOUR BODY:

DYSMORPHIC

WHO CAN YOU TRUST WHEN YOU CAN’T TRUST YOUR OWN VISION, YOUR OWN MIND? DO YOU TRUST YOUR MUM WHEN SHE REPLIES ‘YOU’RE STILL TOO THIN’, HER VIEW STILL DISTORTED BY THE PAST? YOUR FRIENDS WHO LOOK PAST THE PHYSICAL TO THE PERSON BENEATH? ELEANOR IS IN A HOLE, LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH IN THE DARK

by ELEANOR DUNLOP

Glassy eyes

Bore

Me

Confrontation

In the mirror

The face is mine but the thighs

Bigger

Bulbous

Ballooning

Pathogens

Grow

Carcusses

Meet in the middle of

Butcher’s windows

I’m meant to be vegan though?

But no matter what I cut out

I can’t seem to smooth out

The cracks in this façade

Whispers from the past

Seeping through glass

Insidious

Distort my

Legs

Hips

And arse

illustration by EVA ENNALS

DYSMORPHIC — ELEANOR DUNLOP