an impossibly-flat chest
stick woman legs
it’s the London look, baby
eradicates womanliness
inherited trait
an hourglass figure
no longer in favor.
these days thin is in
a remembrance:
the day I ate only a Mars bar and an apple
proud and not a bit hungry
withhold food
so much classier than
binge and purge
it was in the genes
this inherent shame of shape
my maternal aunt, Immaculate Heart nun
cushions of flesh folded beneath the habit she was obliged to wear
3 bowls of cereal a day would be the Lenten regimen
3 bowls x 40 days in the desert
I thought it genius
and copy-catted the crime
though there existed a fair measure of rumination on my part
a nun covered in robes
swishing from head to toe
barely revealed a little ankle
on a good day
what was the point?
did she diet for health purposes
was she a woman under the influence
of rock and roll men,
alternate desires, expected perfection
curves and bulges
disguised beneath a sorceress’ cloak
all of us offering up fat sins to our respective gods
