A national obsession, a billion dollar industry
and here I am participating
no pushups or planks, no pills or prayers
have helped, though Lord knows I have tried
haven’t I, O Lord

Not losing weight to bypass diabetes or cancer
certainly not be more seductive at Stone’s Throw Tavern
sipping Margaritas in skin tight pants
or stuffed into size zero to impress my friends
or, let’s face it, my barely there anorectic sister

At seventy-five who cares, crepe paper skin
drooping derriere, boobs flop at my waist,
feet fatter and flatter, growing shorter
by the second, just under four feet
who cares, I don’t

But Lord knows I do want to lose weight
You give us a mixed message O Lord
You say all are welcome and yet not everyone
makes the cut, some “cursed in everlasting fire”
which sounds less than enviable

To be sure
to be absolutely certainly sure
I am slimming down for the eye of the needle
no corpulent camel can squeeze through

Lord, save a space for me

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Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse, among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.