Fat
Everything on my lips is an indictment,
a little bitterness, salt, the death of my body
on my tongue. My body already big enough
to be ignored, the weight of taxpayer dollars
in its shadow. How many times will you try to
destroy me by scalding, burning, how many by diets?
Every January I become a pair of sneakers and a water
bottle away from disappearing forever, the fantasy of a
shrinking stomach. Find me in every mirror.
Feel me in each bulge, the way I sag and sag.
I am the shame of an outgrown wedding dress.
I am the ache of gossip that repeats, again and again,
how fat you've gotten, how thin we want you to get.
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Author's Note
Note: The line: "a little bitterness, salt..." is a paraphrase of a line from the poem "First Gentile" by Rachel Mennies.
Other stories by Amanda Harris
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Great *
Strong voice. Fav*
Have it pinned on ten million refrigerator doors!
Loved the line: My body already big enoughto be ignored
I think this poem bravely tackles an issue we'd like to forget--the struggle to fit an image, to be something agreed upon, rather than making peace with that lion in the fire,and saying what the image shall be according to our own hearts and wills. It hurts, but perhaps saying it our loud will also give individual strength away. Good work.