The Voice of Diet Culture
Tell me what you ate for dinner,
Because I totally hate my figure.
And I see you’re getting thinner….
So maybe you’re onto a winner.
What did you eat for dinner?
Tip 1.
Replace your meals with practical hobbies,
Like reading a book or fainting.
Tip 2.
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
So you can’t tell the difference from an apple to a slice of bread.
From feeling alive to feeling dead.
Relish in the feeling of emptiness.
Tip 3.
Swallow the good.
Spit out the bad.
Hang ornaments from your collarbones.
Build a staircase around your lung.
Don’t you know?
Bones is the new vogue.
Tip 4.
Burn your body down.
Play Russian roulette with your esophagus.
Your underarms sway,
You don’t want wings!
You cannot fly.
Tip 5.
Remember you only exist in numbers.
The scale is the deciding verdict on how you should feel.
At your lowest you’ll be a fruit at its prime.
And it’s okay if you start tittering on the sharp edges of decay.
We wait for bananas to rippen before we eat them anyway.
Wrestle your body.
It’s a battle ground not a home.
It’s a temporary home not a lighthouse.
Your kind and stomach will fight for years.
Even if your heart just wants peace.
Just like you wanted another piece….
Your body will learn to tolerate.
Previously: Sylvia’s Mothering
Pic: Allstock
Keep up the writing miss !
Body dysmorphia has to be one of the most complicated conditions out there.
The structure is wonderful really gives a lot for us to think.
“Remember you only exist in numbers.
The scale is the deciding verdict on how you should feel.
At your lowest you’ll be a fruit at its prime.
And it’s okay if you start tittering on the sharp edges of decay.
We wait for bananas to rippen before we eat them anyway.”
Wonderful analogy
The rest though to me feels like its teenage angst in tone. I cant get into it.
I would love to hear about the positive steps you have made instead of the past history of suffering which has formed the large part of your poetry.
Again this is coming from someone like me who is fat who sees the antithesis of what he is…I had that horrible relationship with my body at one stage…counselling helped…
Always a great read.
Well done.
Weighing scales are nothing more than modern torture implements.
Keep continuing your journey to wellness through your writing..