December 19, 2014

DAY 18, FEMINISM AND FITNESS - EMILY ANDERSON



A Magnitude Which Is Like Itself Alone
Emily Anderson


My torso is short. I have wide
thighs; I’m not a large person.

Have a pear, I have no rolls.
My belly is just big; I look

pregnant with thick thighs.
I have an hourglass, a technical

term for the ornamental
circumlocutions we call figures

of speech. A bit of pear could use a little
help, one end of an analogy is

elsewhere, I’m not a fat woman.

There is, in my imagination, a striving for infinite progress.

I have had several abdominal surgeries and have no muscles that work in that area.

One gets mature and starts to sink
or melt; I hold my weight & when my

imagination reaches its maximum
it produces satisfaction & sinks

back into itself, big hips and ample
rear, I have “mother’s apron,” (belly

flap) after C-sections, I’m not saying
I’m large, I’m getting just a small

muffin. I look like a sack of cats
going down the river, there’s no

crack or shaping, just half
my body I can’t stand, looks

like you’re wearing a diaper,
the bra part does not lift half

my body, I can’t stand
after a C-section, it

stretched to fit my swollen
middle, there is a gap

in the crotch, it’s clear
you’re wearing something

highly shaping, in Ovid the gods
hid themselves in LYING

SHAPES crustulum
cymbi figura (form

-fitting mermaid gowns)
& ficus comprimunt in

figuram stellarum (& pressed figs
into the shape of stars.)








The Power of Numbers Extends to Infinity



   I am 5’8 170 lbs.
      the leg part goes 5-6 inches above
     
            A very tall woman   5’10, 173
                                                                        
                          I lost 2-3 cm and am happy.


2 or 3 more:




                           1)  5’6,175, 2) 5’5 3) 5’ 5, 145 size 28



Fourteen hips.
                                   




            5’0 &100 lbs. 5’3 & pulling it down

           & putting it back up took 2 minutes.




                                    ’ ”  ’ ”  ’ ”




Size C is for a 12 year old girl



Text Box: mother of   3   (   Size   C   ) ages    5   ,    3   , and    1   ,    5   ’   2   ”       &    1  1  5   lbs  .   ,     5      ’  10    ”     1  3  5   -  1  4  0  ish   ,   decent    5   5    year old body   ,     $    5   ,    1   0  years  ,   I received it on May   1   8  th   ,   1   5   9   8   ,   Sorry for typos     (   they take off    2   -   3 in    .    !  )     oops I   '   m         5   '   2         "         seemed   3              sizes smaller   ! but the seam is              1     0    0    %   obvious, turned my dresses into a disaster, the humidity is    9             0    %   ,   I just had a baby      4         months ago I don’t expect miracles      ,Little Bulge;                         the thighs started to open after      2   -    3 times,    it   ’     s like no such thighs had ever          but I had to keep yanking that post            -             2            ndbaby pouch we   ’  re trying to contain aren  ’t we   ?    a size 1 0       -  123     8C with an hourglass , therefore a feeling of pain aris     [     e s      ]from the want of accordance between the aesthetical estimation of 
 …  …  ..  …..  .   magnitude       . In Ovid , God  ,  the mermaid ’s tummy comes out to the same place it does when I am not wearing it   ,   I  ’ m,  Little Bulge    ,   I am under the bra  !  ,   XL ,   “  cut your breath off   ”  hover between  1  2    and 1  4   (  U .  K  . )  3  8B  November82013  , pack   down the 2  - baby  - belly .   .  .     .  .  material puckering .  .  .   .  not skin    /     fat puckering .  .  *    material puckering      *   . .    2       of   2           people  ,    red marks    ,         8 / 1  0   .   1    5   8l  b   s    ,   5         ’        6  352739    ;0 of 1 people non advenue   ,   ’  m breastfeeding   ,    not a miracle  , it bursted, desrvs no star      ,      I just had my 4th kid            ,wash these in baby shampoo                               ,Little Bulge             !                          I’m a                     L  ,                a  high school teacher   ,    a size     Muffin!  Figure smmmmmmoooth       $$$  ,      *      wiggle                                     *





Note: These two poems borrow from various sources including Immanuel Kant’s “Analytic of the Sublime,” Erich Auerbach’s “Figura” and Amazon customer reviews of Spanx and other shapewear products.  



Emily Anderson’s writing has appeared recently in Fence, Conjunctions, the Kenyon Review and The Broadview Anthology of Short Fiction. Her first book, Little Novels, is forthcoming from BlazeVox Books.  Her video collaborations with Jen Morris have been screened in Sta. Cruz de Tenerife (Spain), Philadelphia, and Brattleboro, Vermont. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a PhD Candidate in English at the University at Buffalo. 

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