red withering rose at daytime

The Fat Man and Me

"Turn around!" 
The fat man said,
"Let me see you from 
A different angle."
He shook his head, 
And putting his hands
On my cold puckered skin
And licking his lips
As he leered and grinned,
He spun me
Like a ballerina on 
Some chopping block
Pedestal. 
"This foot is a 5
But the other is a 7,
Your hair is too short,
But your breasts
Smell like heaven,
Now, don't you go thinking
That you have anything I
Need. 
I can take you
Or leave you,
Now get on
Your knees."

There is a price
To be paid
For playing the
Slave,
It comes in dribbles
And it dies every day.
And everything's
Inspected and 
catalogued in trays, 
Where the jawbones
Are measured for 
Fineness and 
Number of days.

"There is a spot of
Fat here, on both 
Your thighs. 
I'm taking a point off
Because you really 
Didn't try. 
And you need to do 
Something about your 
Attitude. 
I pay for compliance
Not your funny moods."

And taking her down
To the sinew and bones,
Reducing her existence
To ribbons and bows.
Her pin prick existence
Dove deep down inside
Yet there was nowhere 
To run to, and nowhere
To hide. 
He unpeeled her slowly
His hands round her neck.
He dug the hole.
He exposed the flesh.
And in destroying her
Wholly
The fat man uncovered
What it was he did best.

I am a jigsaw woman.
I come in pieces
Rearranged to suit
Various gut lords
And geezers.
Each one of them 
Is mirrored and shined
To a gloss, 
But none of them see
Humanity
Lost



17 Comments

  1. Ruth

    Courage is your middle name sweetheart. And this puts the moral judgments exactly where they belong – with the men who see women as less than human. It’s profound and disturbing in exactly the way you (I think) intended. x

  2. Time Traveler of Life

    That was so scary and demeaning, it was meant to put women in their place and men as their masters. When I first started reading it, it felt like a seamstress measuring, but as I read on I realized it was a man changing a woman into what his idea of their role in life. What he needed. You definately earned your name, Courage.

  3. Time Traveler of Life

    Some days I feel so tired that I feel like I can’t go on. Then my hubby comes over and hugs me, and I am energized. So tell Chris you need hugs more often to energize you. He will be happy to oblige! Hugs and Love!

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