Love Your Body Day, October 18, celebrates the bodies of women and the right of women to love their bodies as they are, in whatever shape they appear, and to be comfortable and happy in them. Here I feature four poems by people in FPS, Fat Poets Society, that celebrate the beauty of the bodies of fat women and their right to enjoy them. Two are by Lesleigh Owen, one is by Kathy Barron, and one is by yours truly, Frannie Zellman.
Enjoy and revel in the wonder and beauty of fullness!
Frannie
Mirror, Mirror
An earthy, breathing image
of wonderland
like nothing Rubens ever painted.
I turn my head and see her:
Drowsy, sated, fat goddess
lying on her side,
breasts straining toward the soft tousle
of hotel bed covers,
reddened eyes spilling into mine,
laughing, her teeth inside her sore red lips
and above her chafed chin
as white as the
puckered expanse
> of kneaded bread dough belly.
I reach toward her
and she toward me,
clasping each other’s smooth, cool hands,
we whisper giggling, sisterly secrets
above the gentle hiss
of falling water.
> by Lesleigh Owen,
> written 10.14.6, copyright 2006
Ceres
Autumn’s smooth, puffy bronze cheeks,
salty sweet chin
Gently creaking sounds of awakening,
Bones groaning like the cracking
of a rusty cellar door,
Autumn, with her dusty-wheat-scented breaths,
whose round, curving, gently drooping body
polishes the world into
smooth, gray contours
Her eyes,
like newly-discovered amber
with never-popped air bubbles,
warm the room like vanilla-scented candlelight
as she envelops the world in her
spicy rolls of flesh
Summer’s not the time for me:
Sunlight that casts angular shadows in wide-open mouths
No more feeling the scrape of sand
sloughing over my dense curves,
trying to whittle down my folds of flesh
into smooth, plastic expanses of cookie cutter skin
No more poppy-scented laughs
that chime like dissonant dinner bells
and abrade my delicate ears
Bright white light
Take away my sight
Thin, hungry, sweaty bodies,
arms shaking, smiles flaking, biceps quaking
Frozen in flashes of sunlight on teeth
False idols of perfection
that die before they can ever
live a full-bodied life
Autumn, that sweet, round, wise, dangerous old woman
arrives slyly in her orange, Cinderella-like pumpkin —
as round and majestic as people —
tossing dried, crackling, russet leaves like confetti or candy:
“Throw me something, grandmother!”
Autumn: Happy, crisp, nutmeg, rounded season
My mouth opens and closes in happy little O’s
over words like “orange” and “clove,”
circular, bouncing words,
round, rich, and warm.
Leaves bend and snap beneath my ponderous weight
while the scent of earth weaves like cinnamon
through my sinuses.
Yawning, indolent light puffs gently through
twisted branches and desiccated leaves,
shining golden orange
like heaps of buttered, cinnamon-scented, steaming mashed yams
or lightly-oiled strings of spaghetti squash
Walking this cooling, linear stretch of sidewalk,
I am tempted to bite into the toothy, yellow winds
that crease around my body like well-starched sheets,
to jump high and far,
passing through the low-hanging laundry
snapping in the sky,
jump miles away from all scents of limestone and exhaust,
to throw my gray, woolen poncho over the clouds
and roll in the decaying scent of leaves
that stick to my face
like allspice on a baker’s hands
I can finally breathe beneath this nubby grayness
that stretches like a fluffy headscarf
over the dome of the sky.
Seasonal bounty,
Harvest time, time for rest
Shelving our immature dreams
And discovering reverence for plenty
At night, I eat ginger carrot soup for supper
and slurp pumpkin custard from heirloom dishes
My squash-shaped body, —
honored for its softness,
its abundance,
its life-affirming heaviness —
snuggles into the scratchy red blanket
crocheted for me by my mother
while I bounce children and tradition
on my plump, arthritic knees
and sip cocoa and warm candlelight.
Fatness and autumn:
Round, pumpkiny, bountiful:
A sensual feast
Fatness and autumn, —
lush and earth-scented as mounds of warm flesh —
dance together in gentle spirals
like leaves in a windstorm
Come evening time, Autumn and I sit
like old friends,
cackling on the front porch,
bellies bouncing together
while heavy, purple mugs of chamomile tea
warm our loving, generous,
fleshy hands.
Lesleigh Owen, written 10.9.6, copyright 2006
Feast of Fruit
Long watermelon thighs,
round, firm, heavy,
solid, ripe, weighty
roll apart easily
exposing
the tender fig
husband-lover pulls open
licking the fruit
before he sucks it
gently into his mouth,
pulling the fruit
away from the skin
steadily,
his tongue gripping
delicately.
Drinking.
Feasting.
Pear breasts
with peach nipples,
raspberry points,
sway gently
as the pumpkin belly
quivers.
Fat, round McIntosh arms
move freely
as though floating
in water
waiting to be claimed
with splashing teeth
and happy laughter.
Plum cheeks
and cherry lips
redden with desire
satiating.
by Kathy Barron
Copyright, 2006
My permission is granted to share this poem as long as it is attributed to
me and is not changed or altered in any way.
Making Movies
The woman’s large soft dangling breast
Rests in his strong muscled meaty hand.
The man’s luscious flowing belly
Touches her dimpled succulent thighs.
The woman’s gently rippling bottom
Kneads her husband’s sleek wide chest.
Their creamy bodies shake and dissolve
Into each other, the pooling massive, engorged,
Wildly long.
One day their epitaph will read:
These two fat gorgeous people loved each other.
If you loved them, love yourself.
One day my epitaph will read:
This person loved fat people and found them gorgeous.
If you loved her, love them.
by Frannie Zellman, c. 2006
October 18, 2006 at 12:25 am |
Thanks so much for sharing these beautiful poems. They are glorious, sensuous, & make me feel much more at home in my lushly rounded body, as well as very eager for the touch of my lover on all my roundness, for him to savor my sweetness & my bounty.
Happy Love Your Body Day & may we all work toward the time when EVERY day is a day to celebrate & cherish our bodies, our richness, our fullness, our generosity, our beauty.
October 18, 2006 at 5:17 am |
Frannie, you are such a dedicated and quiet activist! What amazing splendor you toss around in order to enliven, enlighten, and inspire others. Reading all these poems together gives me goosebumps! Thank you for sharing them with the world. 🙂
Oh, and Happy LYBD! I hope you do something deliciously body-celebrating tomorrow.