Runway
Sara chops her lunch into equal sized bites,
moves it around on her plate
leaves white spaces
pretends to chew when anyone looks her way,
slides food into her lap.
Sara thinks her belly is as big
as the rising moon, that her thighs rival
those giant Doric pillars on the Parthenon..
Ten pounds down and she could be a runway
model like Anna Reston once was
or Barbara Di Criddo, strut flat-eyed
and loved,
a human hanger for size zero dresses.
She doesn't know her runway is fated
to be a dark graveyard row, her trophy
a bouquet of dead roses.
Sara dreams the mirror tells her she's beautiful.
She bows to her make-believe audience
holds frail arms out like angel wings for a curtsy,
smiles as her flesh melts down from bone
to fairy dust
to ground.
Pris Campbell
©2007
*Anna Reston, a model, died of anorexia
Art: Portion of the painting, The Mommy Tree
by Mary Hillier
This painting is copyrighted and used with
permission.
I love Mary Hiller's work and have one piece hanging in my home and her
miniatures tucked in various places. She describes herself as a woman from South Louisiana who paints prophetically.
Please visit her website by clicking HERE.
Published in In The Fray, summer 2007
In the Fray used different art by Mary
Hillier.
Click HERE
to see In the Fray's publication.
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