When reading articles on anorexia, all of them said that doctors and therapists were trying to study the disease to control it. After reading books and other articles on anorexia, I realized what to study in anorexia would be the mind. Anorexia is mostly a disease of the mind, in where the mind turns against your body and forces it to shut-down to ‘look better’ in the critical eyes of the world. Anorexia and starving yourself is not easy to ‘do’, or get out of, for it is a vicious cycle. Through these poems, though not a simple task, I tried my best to jump in the mind of an anorexic, or lover of an anorexic, and see how they feel and what goes on to make them starve themselves of food and love.
In my eyes, the 1st poem portrays how an anorexic thinks, and how they believe the world sees them. The 2nd poem's intention was simply to show how hard it can be to move past something like anorexia. The final poem was an overview of how you go from a normal, happy person into an anorexic, which to me is one of the saddest stages you could fall to.
If I did write a picture book based off of anorexia, I think I would do it something like a girl’s world is good, life happy, but she still isn’t happy with how she has it and who she is. Maybe she would have these small moments/feelings I put in the poems above, and then, since it is a children’s book, learn to accept herself how not only others/media see her, but how she sees herself.
The Mirror
The mirror frowns at me
cold and mocking
whispering words that penetrate my heart
more than the hunger penetrates my stomach
I cross my arms
the mirror smirks
I cry
the mirror watches
It knows
for it’s seen it all
the girls shedding rapidly
shrinking, their silhouette melting
as they fall
one by one
ears too accepting
to the critical world
stomach too small
to want more food
hearts too dry
to accept more love
bodies too used
to the way they made it
1 Step Forward, 2 steps Back
pushing
walking
stumbling
running
stopping
stopping
stopping
Give it back
Take it all
pushing
walking
stopping
stopping
stuck
Girl
The girl laughs
turns her head,
the light hitting it at an angle
to make it glow
She dances in the rain
singing and skipping
kicking off her boots at the door
trudging through the house
The mom laughs and says
“You got water on the floor!”
“Let the heat dry it”
she says
The girl is older
she comes home,
plays the music filled with
words of anger and obsession
stomps around
searching for love,
and clothes
and hair
The girl is now
sad
no love
just glances
No clothes
that fit at least
No hair
for it falls out as she combs
The routine is simple
don’t eat
That’s it
In all its nothingness
She doesn’t like how hard it is
misses the things
and people she used to love
All she does now
is dream about a life
A normal life
Silly little girl
she gave it up that day
when she started losing
to all the winners in the world
2 sources:
Deardorff, Julie. "Eating with an Anorexic Child: A Controversial Treatment." Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL). 25 Jun 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 27 Nov 2010.
Marano, Hara Estroff. "The Skinny Sweepstakes." Psychology Today Vol. 41 No.1. Jan/Feb. 2008: 88-95. SIRS Researcher. Web. 14 Nov 2010
You're poems were amazing. Even though I like to rhyme in poems, they were all really poetic without rhyming. Unlike a lot of poems, the deep meaning was really clear, and you didn't have to look for it. I could tell that these were all very truthful (even though they're not true for you), meaningful poems that you put a lot of effort into. Great job!
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