Have you seen the commercials for Kirstie Alley's new show "Fat Actress"? It is kind of sad that a woman of size cannot have a show of her own unless she is willing to make fun of her weight, but what strikes me is that in the commercial she doesn't look that big. She has a nice, neat, pointy little chin, and most of her is hidden behind a table and a big plate of spaghetti.
Now, I've seen pictures of her in the National Enquirer and Star without makeup and camera angles, and that woman is BIG. She has at least two chins, maybe more, and she is definitely a Big Butted Woman (BBW as I call them). She would look right at home in the food court at the Springfield Mall. Did they have to hide her real size to make her acceptable, even in a show called "Fat Actress"?
That said, this poem by Lucille Clifton is dedicated to BBW's everywhere.
She said:
Homage to My Hips
these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don’t like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and spin him like a top!
Lucille Clifton
He said:
Harlem
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes
I know these two poems are quite different, but the last line of the Hughes poem reminded me of an article my sister sent me about exploding butt implants.
