A repost for today. I was briefly "skinny" in graduate school because I kept running out of food money and was too ashamed to ask for help. This is a poem, a little edited, from that time.
“delicate as birds in rain/lifting crumbs from an empty plate.” So lovely. I, too, had those days of thinning through poverty, and the admiration of my skinny body. The hunger was real. Thank you for sharing this.
Going from memory, I believe I like this the most of the poems I have read of yours. It is sipped from the gruel of daily existence, a taste I have tasted. When I graduated from high school was over six feet tall yet weighed 127 pounds. Much more mass now.
So many lines in this poem I love! Can't pick just one, Margaret Ann. And yes, it's odd how illness or food shortage or grief or a myriad of other reasons prompt people to tell us just how great we look. (I think reading this poem and the comments may be inspiring a poem in me.) Thank you for always sharing poems that touch the feelings of being human. 💛
I was only ever close to skinny when I was sick, and I still can't get over how many people told me how good I looked compared to before and after that time.
“delicate as birds in rain/lifting crumbs from an empty plate.” So lovely. I, too, had those days of thinning through poverty, and the admiration of my skinny body. The hunger was real. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you, Mary 💛.
Going from memory, I believe I like this the most of the poems I have read of yours. It is sipped from the gruel of daily existence, a taste I have tasted. When I graduated from high school was over six feet tall yet weighed 127 pounds. Much more mass now.
Thank you so much, Jim.
So many lines in this poem I love! Can't pick just one, Margaret Ann. And yes, it's odd how illness or food shortage or grief or a myriad of other reasons prompt people to tell us just how great we look. (I think reading this poem and the comments may be inspiring a poem in me.) Thank you for always sharing poems that touch the feelings of being human. 💛
Thank you so much, Petra. I would love to see the poem if you want to share it (whenever it comes).
I was only ever close to skinny when I was sick, and I still can't get over how many people told me how good I looked compared to before and after that time.
Sigh. Yeah. The whole “you look great! did you lose weight?” thing.
Ouch, ouch, ouch. Our horribly toxic society with it's awful standards of "beauty" leaves a lot of wreckage. thanks
Thank you, Weston. It really does.