I’m a fan of steampunk novels, and the grafting of flesh and mechanical elements is a major part of that. But in a way I’ve been grafted onto my watch for so long I reflexively twist my wrist to look at the time, and the skin beneath it is permanently lighter than the skin on the rest of my arm. I’m short-sighted, so my glasses are essential for me to function, I put them on first thing in the morning, and take them off last thing at night. I wear a ring on that finger too–I’ve been married a long time, though I often switch up my wedding band with a fun bit of costume jewellery. My finger indents under the ring, the white flesh moulded so that it looks strange if I don’t wear a ring.

Shoes, jackets, hair clips, piercings. Useful, medical and ornamental bits of metal and glass technology. We have always been cyborgs.

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And yes this was the image I tried to share as an Instagram post.