In fashion this season are
skinny lattes
skinny jeans
& skinny legs.
So I'm sucking in my gut
just to try to fit in and
like Sarah Silverman
I don't care if you think I'm racist
I just want you to think I'm thin.
Thin is the new black!
Thin is in!
Why are we trying to become skeletons?
As women in rural Haiti scrounge for pennies to buy a mud pie trying to
trick their bodies into believing they're not starving,
Downtown Victoria, women break twenties to buy a diet soda trying to...
trick their bodies into believing they're not starving.
So with dirt cookies and diet coke not all that far apart then I have to wonder
if just as our mothers told us to eat our dinner because there were starving children in Africa,
African mothers might now tell their children:
"Be greatful you have no dinner--
there are teenage girls in North America who WISH they had nothing to eat!"
And though the idea might make you laugh,
the cold reality is that the #1 wish of girls age 11-17 these days is to...
lose weight and so by age 10 over 80% of girls have been on a diet.
And you'd think we'd grow out of it
but 50% of grown women say they would give up a year of their life rather than be fat and 5% would rather lose an arm or a leg
So with our girls starving for attention and our women risking life
and limb to be thin, dare we ask why?
Why are we trying to become skeletons?
Because every new diet fad leaves a hole in my belly like a bullet wound,
my own failure burning insecurity into my flesh and branding my
ribcage with guilt until the stench becomes suffocating.
Where my naval used to be when I entered the world hungry
and my mother's milk didn't have me forcing fingers down my throat
there's a telescope you can peer into to let you know how magnified
this universe of self-loathing can become.
And, whereas a child I would hold my breath to pass graveyards,
as a teenager magazine racks started to cause the same reaction.
Vogue and Cosmopolitan puncturing my lungs with
glossy images of airbrushed post-human impossibilities.
Not trusting my heart to my sleeve I carved it into my forearm,
drawing crimson and scarlet just to prove I still had something left to give.
And though the bandages have long since unravelled, I have scar tissue
tattoos to prove my battle and I've come along way but I still have
road to cover--
I still have days where I try to runaway on a treadmill
only to realize that it's getting me nowhere.
So I'm throwing out my gym pass, pouring another glass of wine
and getting naked in front of strangers with a surprising air of confidence
because my body is beautiful and no, it's not just skin deep
because this skin is just packaging
and if you look closely it says "new and improved"
and if you look closely it says "all natural"
and no it does not say "15% less fat"
instead it highlights the best parts of me like my hips, and my waist, and my mind
and from there rather than wonder where we went wrong
we can choose to turn off the t.v.
choose to look into the mirror with new eyes,
have another piece of cake
and remember--
that while only 1% of us will ever look like supermodels,
the other 99% of us...get to eat!
Author notes
This is a spoken word piece I am actually performing completely nude as a fundraiser for our slam team to go to nationals. Wish me luck!
A contest entry
- EXPOSURE!! Speak Out on the Issues by WisdomWarrior.
1300 points, ended September 24, 2008, 13 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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- Excellent Points!
- Nice Tempo.
- Beautiful example of Spoken Word.
- Great message
- Consistent theme
- Great Passion in this piece
Good luck in the contest
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Wow, this is really eye-opening. It was great for you to write this and let people know that this is what's going on and it's nothing fake.
"So I'm sucking in my gut
just to try to fit in and
like Sarah Silverman
I don't care if you think I'm racist
I just want you to think I'm thin."
That was a really good stanza. Just one thing I think you could work on is the flow. It didn't interrupt the poem very much and that is a good thing but it could've and that's not going to come in handy anytime soon. Just wanted to give you that little heads-up. Also, the colors of the font + background was a little hard to read, but it was okay.
This was great, very sad, but I can relate emotionally, and I'm sure a lot of other girls can too. Good luck in the contest, although I'm sure you won't be needing it, you'll do fine anyway
Nice write and keep that pen handy!
~pANDY -
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I'm a slam poet and as such I realize that things read differently on the page then they do when I say them. Perhaps I should throw a video up on here at some point of me performing it.
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You certainly have my best wishes for the contest! This has been a serious problem for quite some time now. As a full figured woman with hips and bosom, I hope more take this to heart. Good heartfelt poem, knock'em dead
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whoaaaaa some of us are just born thin and other are born fat we decide our destiny. This poem is very touching and I understand it. I have always been thin.
I look at the other women I work with and say put the food down or get outside and exercise. Good luck in the contest and may your pen forever flow.
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Wow. This is a powerful piece that speaks out against a serious issue. I know I have a problem with self image myself. Well done! Good luck in the contest!
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Thanks so much for the feedback and so quickly Kim! This is a new piece I have yet to perform but I'm looking forward to seeing the reaction it gets from an audience because I know a lot of women (and men) feel the same and I think this needs to be said.
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