Two Very Short Poems: “Mask” and “Dieting”
Mask
If I can smell your cologne,
you’re too close. You’ve come
too near. Please
be mindful of my feeble heart
and keep your social distance.
You wear your mask
and I’ll wear mine
and I’ll pretend not to know
about your mistress.
Dieting
Content disclaimer: Mention of starvation, allusion to eating disorders.
In the ruthless seconds of dieting,
imagining your stomach shrunken
to the size of a juicy orange clementine,
and your thighs
to the width of a spindly-sweet
homegrown carrot or
a zero calorie celery stick,
the baby fat in your cheeks reduced
to paper-thin slices of ripe rosy peach.
Your soul,
somewhere shrunken in your skin,
a tiny fluttering thing, pirouettes
past bones and poking elbows and ribs
that line the cage consuming you.
You have
eyes the size of dinner plates.
Oh, you’re not there yet?
Do you want to be that plump
little child
that witches eat in fairytales?
If you’re not there yet
just starve yourself and wait.
Poet’s Notes
Both of these poems have dark themes, like a lot of my other poems. The first one I find somewhat amusing because it likely tricks the reader into one thing, before subverting it at the end. The second I find sad. I wrote it from the point-of-view of someone experiencing body dysmorphia, which I have experienced before in my life.
Let me know in the comments what you thought about either of these very short poems, or both. If you enjoyed them, you might also enjoy my poem “Goddess.”
And thank you for reading! If you enjoyed these poems, I’d really appreciate if you left me a tip on Ko-fi so I can keep creating as much as possible for you.
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I liked the mask one more!
Thank you! That seems to be the general consensus. I think it’s because the twist is so twisty…
I like both! Poe is my favorite so the dark theme is oddly comforting. Keep writing!
Thank you! I like Poe as well. 🙂 I suppose some of his darkness has rubbed off on me.