Another Slam Poem – Seattle Daughter’s Voice: Revolutionary Email Free Verse

My Dad,
who left us
after I left,
has grown fat
and confident.
He seems to not give
a shit.

My Mom,
who stayed
after I left,
and who was still there
when I returned,
has grown fat
in her self-loathing.

And I,
somewhere between,
hide in my room,
wishing I could scream
“GO, PACK, GO!”

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Beware of Bran Muffins! : Revolutionary ImproVerse Haiku

If a thin woman,/
who thinks you’re fat, gives you bran/
muffins, turn them down.

The Pot Calling The Kettle Fat: Revolutionary Improv Limerick

There once was a woman named Zhen*/
Who’d exclaim, (each time she’d walk in):/
“LOOK AT THAT!
You guys are all FAT!”
Which would set us to crying again.
*(pronounced “Zen”)

OR
There once was a woman named Zhen/
(though herself not overly thin),
who’d exclaim: “LOOK AT THAT!
You guys are all FAT!”
Which would set us to whining* again.

*eating

Suspending Disbelief, Because Maybe We All Hurt: Revolutionary ImproVerse Free Verse Response Poetry

A friend forwarded this video poem to me: http://youtu.be/ltun92DfnPY
and said it brought back painful childhood memories.
This is my response, not so much to the poem, as to her pain:
——-
She,
a cheerleader beauty,
now loved mother/Nana,
saw a poem about
a Fatboy ,
an ugly girl,
a popper,
and she claimed
it brought back pains
and bad
and sad
childhood memories.

As I listened,
I doubted,
and wondered,
and thought “Nobody ever called her
pizza face
or melon head
or pork chop
or chicken legs
or dogface”.

And she never had anyone
she loved
and trusted tell her:
“I love you as my child,
but
i hate you as a person.”
Or
“How can God love you?
You are so evil.”

But then I realized:
How would I know?
Can I deny her pain?
No.
Can I feel
her heart?
Or read
her soul
that may,
to this day,
ache?
No.

With her memories,
she
made me
realize this truth:
I don’t know the burden
or the ache
or the lonely
that’s hidden
inside of any
one.

But if it sucks as bad
as mine did,
and sometimes
still does;
if it rips them apart
and bares them open
as much as mine did
and, too often,
still does,
let me promise
here and now
with all my being
and heart
and soul,
with tears flowing,
and empathy growing,
that I will NEVER assume
that someone was
or is
without pain
in their lives,
and I will NEVER be
the reason
to add
to that ache.

Instead,
please, God,
help me
to be the eraser,
to remove some of that internal,
eternal
ache
and bring some joy
into their lives.

Because I don’t know.
I really don’t know.
I just don’t know.

To A Mother At Church Feeding A 3-Year-Old: Revolutionary ConTEXTing Haiku

Context: On the pew in front of me, at church was a VERY chubby 3 year old. Through the course of the meeting her mother gave her a bag of gummi bears, string cheese, a bag of apple chips, more candy, and a bag of some other snack. Maybe there is a reason she needs it, and I’ll try not to throw the first … chocolate kiss!
If you stuff your kids/
with junk food, they will end up/
looking fat like you.

Does This Make Me Look Fat? Revolutionary ConTEXTing Haiku Lament

Morbidly obease, /
I recline in my chair and/
dream of steakbite death.

Utah All-You-Can-Eat Food Addiction: Revolutionary Improv Haiku

I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet in Utah today. It made me so sad to see (mostly women), 2 or 3 times as big as they should be, carrying 2, 3, 4 or 5 FULL plates of food back to their tables, stuffing themselves. It almost made me cry. And I’m not a skinny guy … but I was probably the 2nd smallest guy in the place! It’s amazing that a culture that places so much emphasis on avoiding “sins of the flesh” (drugs, booze, coffee, sex outside of marriage, smoking) can turn a blind eye to gluttony.

What should you do if:/
You can’t drink, smoke, do drugs, sex?/
Eat yourself to death.

We Don’t Need The Same Talents: Revolutionary ConTEXTing Poem

If you could/
do that,/
then there would/
be nothing I was better than U at,/
(except being fat)!/
But I’ll b me./
U’ll b U./
We’ll both b unique/
in our follow-thru.

Over Old and Overweight: A Revolutionary ConTEXTing Poem

Today I was told/
I look old./
Fat?/
Not wear it’s at./
2nite my body hurts/
on my way 2 being thin./
But if I do hard work,/
my heart won’t hurt/
that way again.