“She looks anorexic”
I lower my head when I walk down the streets.
“When is the last time she ate?”
“What is the last thing she ate?”
I let my hair cover my face and walk faster.
“Are those bites on her chest?”
“Girl you need to eat!”
That last one was a jeering shout.
I think about the traffic.
Look up at a billboard
An advertisement.
Two wonderful, beautiful women look back at me.
I almost smile, and then,
“Man, look at the one on the left! That’s gross!”
I consider the traffic again.
Daytime T.V. has taught people that words they use for larger women…
are hurtful, so so hurtful.
People now understand because of all of the lifetime movies,
the damage they have done.
“Gain some weight!”
I can’t. My body doesn’t work that way.
They need a new target now,
a new size to torment.
“Put some meat on those bones, gross!”
I finally get home,
and let the tears fall.
My skinny,
thin,
tiny,
tears.