Obesophobia

Summertime is society’s peak season for fat-shaming,  
a significant increase of cover-that-up bias  
and beach whale jokes laughed in Coke Zero, 
criticizing those of us who are perceived to be anything  
more than naturally thin or half-starved. 

Consider. 

We clean our plate. 
We order our dessert. 
We wear our oh-no-she-didn’t. 
We flaunt our stretch-marked skin. 
We break our bread. 

Regard. 

Who made us insecure to wear bikinis, 
when thin men die daily?  
Why aren’t we happy to be alive, next to rolling oceans, 
at any size? 
When will cruel comments become unpopular? 

Explore. 

Superficiality bows down to whole-person wellness. 
Wellness isn’t skin deep, and choice is personal. 
An uptick in suicide notes outweigh a calorie count. 
BBL’s cause more deaths than rat poison. 
Food is weaponized and affects us differently. 

Change. 

Thank them for their concern, 
slather their cruelties with your sunblock  
and jiggle down the shoreline,  
until the popular pumpkin pops up in autumn’s sweater, 
when body exposure decreases but our wholeness rises like the fullest moon. 

Respect.