No More Hiding

Dear Simply-Them,

          Dear Simply-Them,
            Those who had the thigh gaps, and flat stomachs. Those who had inspired me on my journey, who reached out in a time where I did not need you and said,

"Let me help you fit in, for which we both know you don't."

And have therefore made an in urgent situation just the opposite.

Simply-Them, who have ruined my childhood with skipped meals, toothbrushes down throats, razors against skin, and hatred.

You are an ignorance.

You are a disgrace.

For you are not beautiful 5'9 models,

With long shiny legs,

Or toned stomachs and arms,

Or rounded rears and clear skin,

And perfect skin and smiles and wonderful personalities,

And,

You do not have an accent,

For you speak universal,

Taking the hands of young girls and boys all over,

For you are not a model with a six pack and a chiseled jawline and dazzling eyes and the perfect five o'clock shadow.

You are not a model.

Or an inspiration.

Or anything I wish to ever become and be and live and inhale.

You are smoke.

You are as destructive as destructive becomes, a fire that is ignited in each one of us,

Me,

And Sally and Jim and Dan and Martha and Martha's cousin and Jim's friends sister.

You are smoke.

You blacken our inners, our senses of rationality and common sense.

And darken our feelings, of ourselves and of mirrors.

Why do I look like this?

What have you done?

Simply-Them, what have you done to me and Sally and Jim and Dan and Martha and Martha's cousin and Jim's friends sister?

Why have you rewired our brains?

We have unconsciously inhaled you.

We have skipped meals, and tried, and hated, and cried, and hurt in so many ways.

But I don't want to anymore.

But you see the problem, none of us do.

But we don't know how to stop, how to end this because you, you grasp us with talons.

You

Are talons.

Are teeth.

Are suction cups.

Are me.

Are us.

You become a part of us, and transform us to something not human.

Into tiny skeletons.

And so riddle me this,

How do I exhale myself, and get rid of you?

Sincerely,

Us.

-D.