Tonight's Poet Corner: Balancing The Scale
Balancing The Scale by Belinda Roddie Distrusting my body, I fed it hot mint tea and cold shrimp, added popcorn like I was being entertained, then washed it down with water and guilt. I imagined everything I ate that day descending like stones into my stomach, churning and spinning like the meals had been stuffed into a blender, as if the puree setting made the weight in my gut lighter. I do this a lot, actually - projecting that mental image, that movie set to music with heavy bass. The symptoms I've been taught to call excess and gluttony settle into a dark cavity, are picked up by a hurricane, and then disintegrate. I pretend that I am now empty. Not brimming with the light and sustenance that calories are meant to provide. I call myself a foodie, but I wish that also meant I could look good while still being one. When I describe my shape and size, I joke that I'm, "built like a brick" - squished into a compactor and spat out like a p