{"id":211,"date":"2020-11-18T01:06:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T01:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/16-1\/?page_id=211"},"modified":"2020-11-21T23:05:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T23:05:52","slug":"ribs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/poetry\/ribs\/","title":{"rendered":"RIBS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

R<\/em> <\/em>I<\/em> <\/em>B<\/em> <\/em>S<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

you seem them in photos, arched backs strung like taffy,\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

stretched \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f out\u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f on\u202f <\/em>\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202ffurniture like barren shelves,\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and i wonder how did they get them so empty? <\/em>i<\/em> want mine to be like that<\/em>.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i pull up my shirt and in look in the mirror. my shelves are so full, too full. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i<\/em> want mine to be like that.\u202f<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

so i reach inside \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f and tug <\/em>\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202fand\u00a0pull\u00a0<\/em>\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f and\u00a0yank<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and tear <\/em>\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f (and cry)<\/em>\u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f and empty\u202f<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

until one day someone asks for help – and forgetting, i reach inside once more.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and despite it all, i am surprised when i find there’s nothing there.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i tell them sorry, <\/em>i<\/em> ran out of that.<\/em>\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and so\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and so she\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and so she can’t\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

can’t st — <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAN’T STAND IT<\/em> <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she can’t stand it. every time she looks in the mirror at her naked body she can’t stand it.\u202f<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

it makes her physically sick<\/em>.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

every time she eats she feels guilty \u2013 yet her lack of willpower continuously fails to stop her as she takes one more bite of addictive chocolate sweets and tells herself “it’s okay.”<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

sitting at the edge of the shower disgusted<\/em> <\/em>in her skin. disgusted <\/em>with her lack of self-control.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she wants to be s k <\/em>i<\/em> n <\/em>n<\/em> y<\/em>. she wants to be able to see her ribs and feel them and count them.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

that’s all she wants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

. . .but is it? is that really all she wants?\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

no.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she doesn\u2019t know it now, but what she wants will never be enough. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nR I B S  you seem them in photos, arched backs strung like taffy,\u202f  stretched \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f out\u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f \u202f on\u202f \u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202ffurniture like…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “RIBS”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/no-intro.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-211","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/211\/revisions\/551"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/16-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}