{"id":3518,"date":"2023-05-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/?p=3518"},"modified":"2023-06-17T19:02:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-17T17:02:38","slug":"a-7-step-guide-to-be-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/2023\/05\/a-7-step-guide-to-be-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"A 7-Step Guide to Be Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author:<\/strong> Mel A. Riverwood
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Wake up joyful and refreshed<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

we rise and we walk.
no need to wake up when we haven\u2019t slept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we wander in the dark that we know,
without seeing,
to light the one candle we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a flame inhabited by our own ghost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

now the ghost in the lighthouse says
\u2018it\u2019s stupid o\u2019clock again.\u2019
he sees a wreckage going out at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a corpse rotten to the bone,
which unearthed itself alone;
somehow, it remembers how to stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

flesh hanging from frame,
all organs exposed.
six times they buried us,
seven times we rose.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Have yourself a healthy breakfast, baby <3<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

they don\u2019t expect us to eat.
to eat is to live, to live is to think.
they think we don\u2019t think, and therefore we don\u2019t eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but the longer the sleep, the bigger the hunger;
we\u2019ll show them we can devour as much as they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

come now, lovelies, prepare the feast.
feed the fire and warm the pot,
gnash your teeth and unleash your beast,
tie the roast with a delicate knot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bring the loveliest ones to the front.
vultures don\u2019t expect a decaying corpse to rise again and hunt.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Shower time :)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018here\u2019s the wreckage again,\u2019 says the ghost in the lighthouse.
\u2018it\u2019s coming to port, afloat, adrift,
it will sink. it\u2019s torn by a rift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

what storms has it seen, what maelstroms, what tides?
what warmth has it lacked to stand silent and slack
in the falls?
does it wish it weren\u2019t cold?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

well, it still hasn\u2019t sunk, gotta keep a cool head.
after all, it\u2019s not drunk yet, nor is it dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it\u2019s high tide, the waves flow over the corpse.
come low tide, it rises and walks.\u2019



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The BEST skincare routine ever, you will be glowing after this<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

stretch your new skin dress over your broken bones
\nto hide the strange angles;
stitch up all the wounds that were caused by their stones
at the single light of your candle.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

then look at it, stare at it, count the imperfections
think, think again, about all the corrections.
strangle the words, your lips are sealed over.
you hear your reflection scream bloody murder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the smoother the better, each flaw makes it worse;
but the blessed today will choose to be cursed.
they want us brighter, six windows of shame,
but we want it darker; we kill the flame.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Time for makeup! you\u2019re bold and beautiful and I love you<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

they don\u2019t want to see it, only we\u2019re supposed to know,
our perfect must be invisible, the everyday normal.
be the pearl, but god forbid you be the one to shine;
they will be the first to see you\u2019re stepping out of line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

we refuse to be the grace
to their self-sufficient decadence;
if they deserve our beauty, then we deserve our truth:
they will see, soon; we are ugly too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

they sew the wind, it will be our pleasure to see them reap the storm.
play the role, control the shape so that we fit their form,
sing, ensiren, ensnare, enchant, unhinge the jaw, go for the throat,
strike, drown them in their own sea and sail on their own boats.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Walk out there and SLAY my darling<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

angels now are worshipped; but at first they were feared.
we got the shame, we took the blame, our name was rhymed with villain,
so be it. if we are evil, if we are vile,
why do they still want us down the aisle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they drew blood first. smile; let\u2019s bare our teeth
and bite the hand that held us beneath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we polished our anger, we made it a knife
and now we will use it to walk safely at night.
we cannot sing until we tear their hands from our necks.
we will unlearn the art of staying dead.



<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Don\u2019t forget self-care!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

tie yourself to your pyre, to that kitchen chair
break your throne, your pride, your hands, cut your hair
and from your bleeding lips, draw the broken, the scarred, the whole, the monstrous
hallelujah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

be the tear falling in heaven,
the laughter in the storm;
and when we will have triumphed,
we will all walk home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

find your voice again. use it to the extreme
you were born a whole being; one ready to scream.




<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus: a playlist for my witches to fill the silence while you do all this<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Waking Up (Acoustic)<\/em> \u2013\u2013 PVRIS<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Blood in the Wine<\/em> \u2013\u2013 AURORA<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Silk<\/em> \u2013\u2013 Wolf Alice<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. You Want It Darker<\/em> \u2013\u2013 Anita Lester (Leonard Cohen cover)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. 25<\/em> \u2013\u2013 The Pretty Reckless<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Dream Girl Evil<\/em> \u2013\u2013 Florence + the Machine<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Amen<\/em> \u2013\u2013 Halestorm<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Author: Mel A. Riverwood 1. Wake up joyful and refreshed we rise and we walk.no need to wake up when we haven\u2019t slept. we wander in the dark that we know,without seeing,to light the one candle we need. a flame inhabited by our own ghost. now the ghost in the lighthouse says\u2018it\u2019s stupid o\u2019clock again.\u2019he sees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002513,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[36],"class_list":{"0":"post-3518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-2023-spring","7":"tag-poetry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.unil.ch\/musemagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}