..continuing to unpack the internal messages about body image that women (and girls) are barraged by, our ‘inside’ women writers utilized Joyce Sutphen’s poem Living in the Body as inspiration.

JL penned a humorous rhyme, incorporating the myriad messages that run through her own brain (and many women’s too).  I appreciate her concluding line, what’s this fight really for?

36-24-26 Modern Slavery by Amadika

Feed me, soothe me, wash me,
let me lay in the sun
you should probably go for a run
I feel like escaping, let’s have some fun 

Be quiet a moment,
you petulant child!
Let me think, let me breathe
you are driving me wild! 

You are too skinny,
you are too fat
your hair is too frizzy,
now what’s up with that?! 

Brown eyes are okay
if you just want to see,
but green eyes are pretty,
particularly 

My bottom’s too flat
and my belly too round
If only they could trade places,
like lost children now found

I want to eat cheeseburgers
laying in bed,
when what I know I need
is veggies instead 

Demands from the outside,
demands from within
like all of my problems
will be solved when I’m thin 

My body goes slowly while
my mind screams, “go fast”
This push and this pull
just can’t possibly last

There’s what I want, what I need,
and then in between
A photograph taken
from a messed-up crime scene 

My body’s my ally one day
and the next we’re at war
Maybe I should just stop,
pause and wonder
what’s this fight really for?…