Black girls don’t get eating disorders -
And yet we do,
You may not see it but we do,
We live it, we breathe it - we are it
You say ‘a black girl can’t struggle’
I say ‘unlike you eating disorders don’t discriminate’
Our bodies are scrutinised - so what did you expect,
When you made a comment, and i followed through -
With results that you ignore,
Results that you score,
Results you caused - from your poor choice of words
Black girls struggle too,
Our bodies are the proof -
The truth,
That you deny,
But the numbers don’t lie,
And our bodies still cry -
For help,
Help that we don’t receive -
Because the world can’t believe,
That black girls get eating disorders too,
And how do i know this - it’s because i am living proof -
That black girls get eating disorders too
The glass has teeth—
it bites at dawn,
gnawing away what flesh I thought was mine.
A rib is a rung to heaven,
but the ladder never ends.
Numbers bloom red on the bathroom scale,
they hum like insects in the skull.
I am a mannequin—
wire shoulders, hollow eyes,
a smile stitched with needles.
Children bruise themselves
against invisible rulers.
They carve equations into skin:
less, less, less.
The mirror spits back a stranger,
a body mangled into myth,
a coffin that walks,
polished with hunger.
Depression wears a crown of glass,
stress rattles its beads of bone.
We hate the face we are given,
we hate the face we invent.
The mirror waits, patient as winter,
to swallow us whole.
facing disorders at an early age is "your" fault
this isn't what i learned, what i was taught
thinking of the memories my disorder has brought
"this is normal", that's what we thought
i talk to someone, they label me as crazy
i'm just begging for someone to save me
now they only see what i want them to see
the color red stains my favorite tee
i try and try, but get nothing in return
how will they feel when tables have turned
i think of the acts of people i've learned
they fake and pretend to be concerned
depression? anxiety? bipolar? here's some medications
they won't heal my thoughts of temptations
no one understands, no one's in relations
being numb is the new sensation
putting the blame on people for how they are
it's only going to push them so far
thoughts are hanging as high as the stars
do you know how you're making them feel?
the emotions they had, their disorder will steal
no one can save us, nothing left to heal
now nothing seems real
The girl thought she had it beat,
But then she couldn’t stand to eat,
Not even a single piece of meat.
The girl started to disappear,
She begged for help but no one could hear.
She didn’t want to be here,
All she was, was a peer.
The girl was so obsessed with her weight,
She began monitoring what she ate.
Soon she began to lose pounds date by date.
When she looked into mirrors, all she felt was hate.
The girl slowly became bones,
People around her would say it was for attention or it was just hormones.
The girl just put in her headphones
And drowned out the world’s groans.
Because I have a friend who suffers from mental illness
There are days when I choose to just stop and just stare
At you in the mirror yes you inside there
There are days when I will argue and fight you allowed
Some would be won arguments but mostly just drowned
There are days when I notice the grin on your face
And question your attitude towards my disgrace
There are days when I warn you of wrongs you have done
And why you should fix them because I’ll not run
There are days when you love me and praise me at will
Those days are most frightful they leave but a chill
There are days when I hate you and beg for your fate
To end all that cripples me in this mental estate
There are days when I bypass you in silence or despair
But I know that like always you will shout out, ‘Am I there!’
17 August 2018
Sponsor: Viv Wigley
How slippery the slope is
That you just climbed up.
6/13/2018
Kale Brereton
The beauty of you
Ups and downs in life
This beautiful journey
If life was just good days
It’d be flat just like the Prairies
But its not
And neither are you
As much as we are the same
We are different too
Our beauty lies within
Sometimes it is in a dark place
Sometimes it is hidden
This beauty of yours
Is not just your reflection
This beauty is in your mind and heart
True beauty is inside you
Locked away like precious art
Please see the signs
Please find the clues
The true beauty of today
The true beauty of you
Is who you are deep down
And all that you have been through
Kale Brereton
5/1/2018
https://www.thefreethinkinghuman.com/
Mental Disorders
My Brain,
My Brain is as messed up as this world.
“why?”
The doctors,
The doctors say medicine will help.
“This is just too much.”
The therapists,
The therapists say talking will help
“I hate this.”
They don’t know.
“No one understands.”
No one can help.
“Please, take me away from this.”
No one can stop the voices.
“It’s consuming me.”
I feel,
I feel alone and broken.
“Everyone always leaves.”
My anxiety,
My anxiety makes it impossible to learn.
“I’m so stupid.”
I feel,
I feel as stupid as a squirrel that runs back in front of a car after running from it.
“I’m a failure.”
Depression,
Depression is breaking me
“My heart is in pieces.”
My life,
My life is as messed up as a word scramble game.
“I’m done with this…”
*BOOM*
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.