On the Devotion of Shaving

On the Devotion of Shaving
By
Jennifer Angelina Petro

 

 

One by one,
Finger by finger,
I shave them
Delicately and
With a certain,
Indescribable joy;
I am amazed at how fast
The hair grows on them,
And on my legs, arms,
And chest—places
I never before shaved
Nor ever dreamed of shaving;
Now, every day,
I bend forward, pausing a moment
To feel how much this feels
Like prayer, and I draw
A Venus razor up and under,
Around and around
My calves and thighs, like
An instrument of devotion,
And my legs are so
Happy, so grateful to be touched
And tended, and when I am finished
And feel their smoothness
And how they thrum with being loved,
They tell me again and again
How this was always
What they wanted;
And as I draw the razor
Over my arms, they too shine
With gladness, as does
My chest, although, to be completely
Honest, the skin on my chest isn’t
As happy about being shaved
As the rest of this body,
That said, it loves the absence
Of hair and the silkiness
Is remarkable, as is the strange sense
Of being a mother,
That I have been living
Shrouded with the fur of a father,
And now as it falls into the water
Of the tub, and my skin sings
And rejoices to be unburdened,
I see I am a priestess
And this body a vessel
Of holiness, and every stroke
Of the razor, every experiment
With Nair, every time I run
A finishing razor to find
The stray hairs, I am tending
A temple where Goddess lives
And aches to be known and to know,
Where she shares lotus flowers
And sandalwood, where she kisses
My soul, and breathes over my fears
And cares turning them
Into dragonflies and milkweed seeds,
Where she tells me again
And again, “Thank you
For honoring me with the truth,
Thank you for being born and being
Your very own mother,
No wonder you are tired,
Allow me to nurse you
Into fullness and cradle you
And sing to you
As you rest in the grace
Of the revelation
I have given, and how bravely
You have surrendered
And how naturally
You have stepped into your power,
How carefully you are tending
The garden of who you really are,
Come, rest my daughter,
Allow me to hold you
As sweetly as you are holding me.

 

 


 

 

 

 




Donations go to my transition.  Thank you.  <3

3 thoughts on “On the Devotion of Shaving

  1. Ha! I love that you are loving shaving off your hair! I admit it’s a little ironic to me because I don’t shave off any of my own body hair and it makes me feel extra womanly. 🙂 But I’m in the minority among American women on that one. xoxo


    • Yeah, it’s funny, Mindy, I am not a glam-transwoman, nor do I want to feed into the cis-normative view of how women “should” look, but for me I have always longed to feel my arms and legs and chest smooth…..Of course, I need to bear in mind I am an Italian transwoman……and that hair is just part of the beauty. It is also so interesting to be born a woman so late in life and yet feel very much like an excited, giddy little girl….like if I could buy unicorn everything right now I would. I have never had this much fun. Love you. Jennifer <3


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