 In 2019, I got the words 'Listen I love you joy is coming' tattooed on the inside of my left arm. It's a stanza from Kim Addonizio's viral poem To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall, which has since become a mantra for me in moments of despair. This poem resonates with me on a deep level. It speaks to the power of listening, love, and joy even in times of darkness. I wanted to have a reminder of these words to keep me going whenever I felt overwhelmed. I've had psoriasis since I was 18, and over the last 10 years, I've often felt like this skin condition has taken away my bodily autonomy. At times, I've had no control over my skin, and how it looks or feels. This made me anxious, and I became fixated on controlling other parts of my life in a scramble to find some of the power I felt I'd lost. Yet, the soft inside of my arms is one of the few places psoriasis has never touched, and I wanted to take ownership of my body once more – decorate it with something I found beautiful. A tattoo. About six months into my first year of university, I woke up with small sores covering my eyelids and scalp. My eyes were stinging with a pain I'd not felt before, and I could barely open them. I went to my lecture that day wearing sunglasses, where everyone just assumed I was hungover. Psoriasis is a condition experts know relatively little about (Picture: Chloe Laws) A friend later came to A&E with me once I'd shown her what was happening to my face. It took months to get a diagnosis, with multiple doctors thinking I had allergies, but finally, I was told my (now spreading) sores were in fact psoriasis. And not just any psoriasis, but a rare medley of 'plaque' – patches of inflamed, itchy, and painful skin – and 'guttate', small, round, red spots. They speculated that this sudden change could have been caused by stress, but they emphasised that psoriasis is a condition experts){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
In 2019, I got the words ‘Listen I love you joy is coming’ tattooed on the inside of my left arm.
It’s a stanza from Kim Addonizio’s viral poem To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall, which has since become a mantra for me in moments of despair.
This poem resonates with me on a deep level. It speaks to the power of listening, love, and joy even in times of darkness.
I wanted to have a reminder of these words to keep me going whenever I felt overwhelmed.