Overweight

All my life I've been overweight

Too much for my skin to contain

An extra charge on airport luggage

Is my life an extra charge?

Or am I charging towards something else?

The rhino covered in grey, tough, skin,

Calloused exterior, keratin horn,

Keratin nails

Nails in the floorboards to keep them from squeaking

Nails digging into skin as if it was dirt

because you have not realized yet that dirt is what makes the flowers bloom

If you'd just plant the seeds

Like the seeds of poison plants planted in you,

telling you that fat is a curse word

telling you that skinny girls are the enemy,

the enemy is everywhere,

Girls named sugar and misleading things called "lady fingers"

I do not have lady fingers

My fingers once curled around the trigger

of the gun in my brain

A soldier...

Just taking out the enemy

Following orders...

Blindly...

And then

Going AWOL

Making my own orders

Namely: Pizza, Chinese Food, Buffalo Chicken

I clean the plate every time

Because you dont get dessert until you've finished

Until you've finished believing that fat is the worst thing you can be

Until you've finished blaming the skinny girls for fitting into clothes that dont come in your size

You don't get dessert until you've finished counting the stretch marks that are trying to tell you,

There's room for you here.

Let me tell you

I've finished my meal

The first bite of dessert was the best I've ever had.

Reviews

[Crystal Overmeyer-Birmi..]

I love this one! it is so open and honest. I have struggled with weight problems and can totally relate to this. Thank you for having the strength to be truthful and so open with your feeling and emotions.

because you have not realized yet that dirt is what makes the flowers bloom

that is a great line. I think if more woman stopped listening to the media or others we would find that men love women in all shapes and sizes. We get so caught up in numbers we forget to look deeper and see a soul.

I think you summed it up perfectly in your last line
Let me tell you
I've finished my meal
The first bite of dessert was the best I've ever had.

[Julia Ledo]

Thank you so much. My own positivity really came from my friends being uncomfortable in their bodies, friends who were much skinnier than i was. It really blew the whole "when im skinny I'll be happy" thing out of the water for me. I began to really look at what I wanted from my body and it was: confidence in my own skin, healthy and mobile, placing value in myself rather than the views of others. Really the challenge for me was coming to terms with the fact that I determine what my body is worth. No man, girl, mother, father, or anyone else can tell me about my own body in terms of what it's worth.

[Crystal Overmeyer-Birmingham]

Amen sister! high five and a bravo for you!

[Julia Ledo]

Another recent poem I wrote along the same lines is b***s if you want to check out more like this one. Of course rather than my weight this one is about my b***s a little bit of fun and a bit of serious mixed in it rather than all serious like here

[Jojo]

I loved this poem! weight is such a hard topic for many people, and is a discourse of many insecurities. Many people fear talking about being overweight for fear of being judged and hurt, when life comes in many forms and sizes. Being fat is not a crime, not much more than being happy is. Being fat is not a bad word, but a shame that society has negatively depictured it. It is nothing more than a state of being like everything else, maybe full of life.

[Julia Ledo]

also uploaded a video for this poem

[Closing Thoughts]

This is another one of your poems that must be performed in front of a large audience of people. I think you should make videos and post them on youtube and on here. Just a suggestion ;)
But anyway, this poem is super empowering and wonderful. It is well written, clever, and captivating. It absolutely takes my breath away. And the last line is just a final punch- totally bring everything together, and wow. I wish I could have more to say other than "I really really really like your poems good job" but I don't. So good job. 100/100