Ursula and Me
Ursula and me
We're big, bold, badass broads
Well, she's more badass, and I'm more odd
And I don't live under the sea
Ursula and I are ladies with more
We both carry powerful weapons
She has a trident, I a cane as it happens
But we both know the score
I used to be ashamed of my shape
I used to hide to avoid the bullying kind
Who seem to think it's perfectly fine
To do what amounts to psychological rape
Fat cunt, fat bitch, fat ugly cow
You don't like those words, think how I feel
For me, this is all too real
Why is this behavior allowed?
I was always trying to get thin
I hated my broken body
Deemed my post-accident self ugly and shoddy
For years I never could win
I thought that the haters were right
I brought the shame on myself
But then one day that attitude went on the shelf
Because I saw the light
No one has a right to treat another so bad
Fuck your body shaming hate
For thinness I'm not going to wait
You're the one that's pathetic and sad
They say I'll never get a man with a body like mine
I say I don't want any man
Who doesn't want me as I am
Guess what, I'm doing just fine
I discovered that it's pretty great
To be like Ursula and me
She doesn't have to do dialysis
I'm not trying to take over the sea
But we both laugh at your hate
Fat, thin, or in between
Everyone deserves to be treated the same
Nobody should have to hide in shame
Everyone deserves to be be seen
If you don't like what you're looking at
Why don't you look somewhere else
I deserve to go out in public
Just like anybody else
Rocking my big, bad, Ursula-shaped body
With my long graying hair whipping in the breeze
My trusty cane helps as I wind through the trees
I say that being Opal isn't too shoddy
That's my review of Ursula and me
And how I learned to put myself on top
If you're shaming others, stop
Everyone has the right to be free
~Opal~
Notes:
Twelve years ago, I was in a serious car accident which damaged my kidneys and left me with chronic pain and unable to walk without a cane. I was never a small person. I was one of those women who was constantly on a diet and hated what I saw in the mirror. I gained 150 pounds during the coming year.
My hatred and derision of myself continued for many years. Fortunately, The Real Cie and I discovered Health at Every Size and Size Acceptance. We have supported each other on our way to self-acceptance.
I no longer have a wait problem. I now do the things I want to do, as much as my body will allow me to. I am never going to be thin, and that's fine.
I can't say the bullying never gets to me, but these days I'm more likely to be able to stand up to it or ignore it rather than have it crush me completely.
To the ass clown at the Wal Mart: you're in the Wal Mart too as you stand there sanctimoniously spouting about fat bitches shopping at Wal Mart bringing America's standards to a new low. At least I'm not harassing random people who are minding their own business.
If you're one of those who thinks "People of Wal Mart" is oh so hilarious, you need to check yourself. That site is classist, hateful, and those behind its creation are beyond shameless. People in economically depressed areas and living on a fixed income often don't have any choice but to shop at Wal Mart.
I was going to write a review of concern trolling behavior, but it turned into the above. I like it better this way. I've always thought Ursula was an ultimate badass!
The prompt:
And now, for our prompt (optional, as always): today, I challenge you to write a poem in the form of a review. You can review either animate or inanimate things, real places or imaginary places. You can write in the style of an online review (think Yelp) or something more formal that you might find in a newspaper or magazine. (I imagine that bad reviews of past boyfriends/girlfriends might be an easy way to get into this prompt, though really, you can “review” anything in your poem, from summer reading lists for third graders to the idea of the fourth dimension).
