Anorexia
Nervosa, never too thin
Ounce by ounce he disappears
Regarded as a woman’s disease, but society is cruel to men too
Everyone looking to see how fat he is
Xylophone mallets are brawnier
Irreducible when they finally force feed him
Always too fat to be loved
© Patrick Farrell 1995
This poem was published in the Spring 1995 Bayou Review.
