Windward Review Volume 19 (2021): Empathy and Entropy

Arrie Barnes Porter
Ode to A Fat Girl
In your dreams, you are thin,
Like the children starving in Africa.
Ghosts come to sit on your bones,
Sluggish benedictions of missing fingers and
Toes and hands that prop up bone-ful chins.
Amicus Curiae.
In your dreams, you are thin
Like your brothers and sisters,
Not the purveyor of acreage
Wafting around your middle
That cannot be cinched by a corset Oflag.
Thighs whistle
Against ignitable skin,
On legs you open, quickly,
Because he pays attention.
Pagan Maecenas of female bodies.
“You’re pretty for a big girl,”
He whispers.
In your hood, they
Bring black hands to black mouths,
Thro’ their heads back and cackle,
Gathering dark worlds against you.
“Just push back from the table, baby.”
As tho it’ll free you from yo’ nightmares.
You try not eating,
But the hunger grabs your innards
And squeezes.
You swallow
Small white pills,
In brown plastic bottles,
To ease deceit on your way to beautiful.
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Empathy / Entropy