Black Lines on White Parchment

Body Negativity (I)

An inherent part of your subconscious

affirms that the ideal body type is a tall,

well-muscled frame with chiseled jaws and

ripped muscles oozing testosterone,

but your puny —below 5’4 — frame

can’t hope to match such representative

image of societal masculinity.

A jibe here on your stature interspersed

with phrases such as —You look to small for

a University student or the hackneyed classic

— My younger ones are taller than you— 

dampens your spirit, but you laugh it off

with your usual default smile.

Just an ‘innocuous’ statement, but as an

overthinker, you know the damage has

already been done, and your mood for the

day has pivoted into the dark, murky lane of

depression.

You look into the mirror filled with disdain

and all you see is an adult, trapped in the

body of an adolescent but your mental

white blood cells kick in, as they try to

neutralize the toxin of self loathing— a

battle of wits.

First, are  quotes and aphorisms on the

superiority of intellect  over size—brain

versus brawn— namely:

Good things usually come in small sizes

a container is of lesser importance than the  
content it carries
                                or
your stature is genetically predetermined, but your failure or success isn’t.

But that voice at the back of your head

laughs snidely at your feeble attempts at

personal motivation, and you know deep in

the inner recess of your thoughts that all it

takes is one stray tweet or trend you

stumble on, on Twitter:

to disrupt your present calm.

Feb 2022