Body Politic
Body Politic
Some girls
Cut
One drank
Bleach
They (we) disassembled drains
Shared lies
Over teaspoons
Of air
I wasn’t like
Them
I just preferred
Thin
Mine was a protest
Against the body
Politic
But they didn’t
Understand
You’re not
Eating
Listening
Committing to the belief
That you need to
Can
Change
He said
My doctor
A psychologist
He clarified
(not that it mattered)
As he set the yellow poster board
On the table
Between
Us
“Wall of Death”
Was written across the top
In black
Felt tip pen
Pictures of smiling girls
With Sparknote epitaphs
Glue sticked
Beneath
Their families cried
He said
I nodded
(which was right)
As I sat
And looked
At these girls
Who looked everything
And nothing
Like
Me
Catherine Alene is the best selling author of "The Sky Between You and Me"