Poetry explores Famine in the Family through an eating disorder lens
By Sarah Simon
Poetry explores Famine in the Family through an eating disorder lens
Food, food, lots of it – at Thanksgiving, Christmas – so why aren’t you eating?
This Thanksgiving (and probably the Christmas to come) was (and will be) a reminder.
A reminder of what?
My eating disorder.
Why?
Why, you ask? Well, there’s food, yes. Plenty of food involved. And the body can often feel like a casualty of the food.
But in many eating disorder cases, the focus becomes displaced. There is too much focus on food. There is too much focus on the body.
But beyond food + body, eating disorders often have something to do with a deeper idea – which, in turn, employs the body + food in metaphor.
Metaphor. I am a walking metaphor. We all are, really; I just have a history of using calories and body mass to communicate it. All along, maybe that’s why I was developing a penchant for poetry.
Click here to read Sarah’s full story.
Reach out for help with an eating disorder
Sarah is a New Yorker at soul, teaching English and studying film in Uruguay. She published her first book, core collection: poems about eating disorders with Adelaide Books in 2019.
Leave a Reply
Dear Diary
Articles
The diary, a book in which a daily record of events and personal experiences can be kept, offers a window into life in the past.
Subscribe for Updates
Receive notifications of new posts by email.