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Strange Fruit

entry picture

Strange Fruit

 

“what is beautiful?”

asks Eliza

for she thinks

that she is not

because they tell her

she is not

 

“why are they hurtful?”

as if the outside

somehow sullies

what is inside

and insinuates the sour

to what is sweet

 

“why do they ridicule?”

the size the shape

the roughness of my skin

the growths

the fact my spine

Is out of shape

 

“why do they seek perfection?”

in the contours

of my body

when the real beauty

hides beneath

the surface

 

Eliza weeps

in the darkness

where they throw her

cheapened

by the labels

placed upon her

 

but in that hour of hunger

when the beautiful have left

and the late night pangs

ravage the body

Eliza is the glory

of a midnight feast

 

Eliza is the life

to a starving child

the sustenance

to the lost

on the streets

of the cities

 

Eliza

is beautiful

as she always was

Eliza

is beautiful

as she is

🌷(3)

beauty in the eye of the beholderbody shaming metaphordisability metaphorfruituglyvegetables

◄ Lost In Translation

There Are No Angels Here ►

Comments

<Deleted User> (13762)

Mon 4th Jun 2018 21:34

Interesting poem and subject matter Ian which I enjoyed reading. I was wondering how it might work with the last 4 verses interspersed between the first 4:
“what is beautiful?”...
Eliza weeps...
“why are they hurtful?”...
in that hour of hunger...
etc
as it stands it feels a bit like two one-sided conversations bolted together. Maybe you've done it this way for performance whereas I'm coming to it on the page so to speak - as a reader rather than a listener.
I was in a discussion here recently about explaining poetry. I think in this case the added picture and tags are a distraction - the words speak for themselves.
Hope you don't mind me chucking my musings at you Ian. All the very best, Colin.

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keith jeffries

Mon 4th Jun 2018 16:15

Hello Ian,
A great deal can be gleaned from this poem. Appearances are deceptive. The craving for perfection and its obsession is shown to be futile. Beauty is more than skin deep. You have crafted a beautiful poem, one which will cause many to ponder on.
Thank you
Keith

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