Poetry

Diseased Culture
By LA Crompton
Looking back
on all the encouragement
and respect
and compliments
I received from others
when I was
killing myself
through starvation
It is clear
that I was not
the only
sick
one

Fat-Free Food Phenomenon
By LA Crompton
Whereby
fullness doesn't register
until the entire
bag
box
container
carton
CRATE
of fat-free fare
is gone
And one is left feeling
disturbingly
unsatisfied

Beauty Contest
By LA Crompton
I look around
in the real world
            not the alternative reality
            of the impossibly thin and airbrushed
            Don't try this at home
But at the women in my life who are
so lovely and so lively
            and sometimes so Loud
All different colors
sizes
ages
and abilities
They help me appreciate
my own unique gifts
They show me that
putting down masks
makes me strong
They laughingly tell me that
making bonehead mistakes
is just a part of living
 
They are remarkable
posing as ordinary
instead of the other
way around
And in them
I see
the true
face of beauty

Liberty

by LA Crompton  
The night my baby girl is born
I weep alone in my hospital bed
grateful for the precious gift
of her sweet perfect body
    how I love that she    

    cries out her hunger

    wails for mama's milk

    not ashamed of her need

    fully trusting her appetite

    not even considering not trusting it
I am so acutely aware that
I was once that precious myself
I mourn long and deep
I cry for the miracle
of my body
which
despite all my abuse
has been redeemed
forming this new life
that I do not deserve
and that I love so much

And I see so clearly
through the eyes She has given me
How important it is
to be Brave and stay Free

Green Eyes

by LA Crompton

I am admiring
a beautiful friend
whose coloring and build
are my polar-opposite
and I am feeling
so plain and drab in her presence
Until I am hit
by the revolutionary truth
that we can both be beautiful
Suddenly the lights go on
there is no such thing
as fairest of all
we do not diminish each other
Jealousy is stupid
and pointless
and makes our brows furrow
in a most unattractive way
When I catch myself being jealous
or worse
trying to make someone jealous of me
I remind myself that jealousy
makes for cheap currency
and only the small-minded
use it for trade

Freud's a Dick

by LA Crompton  
I have always thought
that the theory
of penis envy
is total bullshit
But then
if you removed fat
from all the areas
women are constantly
complaining about
    tummies
    hips
    thighs
    breasts
we would be left
with the bodies
of men

Honey Bee

by LA Crompton

I live

the way a big fat bumble bee

makes love

to a flower

She caresses

her delicious lover

with all her affection

Rubbing chubby body

over every nook and crevice

giving herself fully

Too entranced by her joy

to apologize

for her size

Her round belly

so out of proportion

with delicate wings

and small black head

Boldly she wears

yellow and black

horizontal *gasp* stripes

widening her right in that ‘trouble spot’

She doesn’t care that black

is more slimming

and frankly

it would be such a loss

to see the stripes go

such a defining characteristic

without them

she would look so

like a common fly

I, too,

rub my rounded body

in the face of life

relishing every moment

offered me

and making no apology

for my belly and hips

the curves I have come to love

I try to enjoy that portion

of life

allotted to me

today

and give myself over

fully open

to the unique gifts

it has to offer

I do not hide my body from life

I am a bumblebee

rubbing my generous self

all over it

Sharing myself with it unashamed

without apologizing

for myself or my size

In this

I take from life

all the sweet nectar

it has to offer

a cute bee like me

Buzzzz

            Buzzzz

                        Mmmmm

Garden Party
by LA Crompton  

The desert

is cheesecake

How could anyone

loathe cheesecake?

Yet the women

feign disgust

looking stricken

horrified by even the sight

holding up stop sign hands

in protest

shaking their heads

No, no

a thousand times

NO

As if the pale wedges

could bite

Conversation turns

discussing flaws

comparing diets

Moaning

Whining

Must

Lose

Weight

I firmly tell

these women

my sisters whom I love

that they are beautiful

Encourage them to recognize their beauty

To get on with their lives

forget about those

stinking

ten

pounds

While I slowly enjoy

a nice creamy slice

of cheesecake

Freebird

by LA Crompton

I take my smooth

round stones of pain

Some large

that have ached for years

tucked in my pelvis

Some small enough

to gather round my heart

And the multi-colored pebbles

that have collected under my ribs and in my throat

making it hard

to be and breathe

I pile them into my skirt

take them to the beach

and one by one

I take them in hand

examine their texture

cry over each tenderly

Remembering every pain

I never felt

Say farewell and release them

Sobbing and throwing wildly

while the seagulls watch

perplexed

I send my stones of pain

far into the waves

where they kerplop

and sink calmly under the majestic rush

one

by

one

Later when I think of my stones

I know

they are no longer

crowded inside me

The Tide has pulled them

out to sea

All poetry ÓLACrompton2002