Perfection
Ripe and ready: in their own way.
Round and Smooth; in their own way.
A brightly coloured variety sat in their baskets
on the shop floor.
Yet, that one isn’t yellow enough,
No, not the skinny one!
this tomato isn’t firm enough,
Pick a bigger melon love.
Fresh and pretty; in their own way
Delicate and Smooth; in their own way
An arrangement all sat in their bouquets
On the shop floor.
Yet, that one isn’t pink enough,
No, not the frail one!
This petal has no shape,
Pick one a bit perkier love.
Youthful and Beautiful; in their own way.
Curvy and Smooth; in their own way.
A mixture of colours all uploaded
on social media.
Yet, She looks so pale in that dress,
her arms are like twigs!
Oh, I wish my bum looked like hers
Flat as a pancake. Have you heard of a push up bra love?
This is a poem I wrote as part of my assignment for a creative writing module. I wrote it with the idea in mind of highlighting societal issues surrounding the female body image and the portrayal of this we see every day on social media.
Photos are shared on platforms such as Instagram whereby many users will have spent ages prior to the post trying to find the most slimming angle or selecting one
out of 1000’s of pictures trying to post the ‘perfect’ one. I'm sure we've all fallen into this trap one time or another. I wanted to highlight this is my poem as well as the negative comments or thoughts that people have when they see these photos in the illusion that there is one perfect body type and image.
Therefore, by posting this poem I hope to highlight the negative thoughts and comments in the hope of encouraging a process of change in these attitudes.
I’m really loving that brands such as Hollister and Asos are now using models of all body types not photoshopping out ‘imperfections’ like stretch marks. Stanger things actor Caleb McLaughlin is also doing an #Embraceyourface campaign which has similar ideas which I love seeing on my Instagram feed. I want to continue the notion set out by these and promote more body positivity and basically say goodbye to photoshop.