Weight Loss
Lexi Cary
If I was lighter I could bear myself up
On the hot Santa Anas and nobody
Who really wanted to could see up my skirt.
I could do this by eating nothing but
Birds-eye crosswalk squares of
Blackberries, or by going against
My nature and carrying less than a
Lending library of books in my backpack.
Of course, if I started memorizing poems
I’d weigh one Whitman plus one Shakespeare
Plus one Lockwood, but I was never great
At unit conversion.
Besides, how much would an mp3 add?
Or the memory of pitifully crying on the floor
To “Candle in the Wind” on LP?
I think I’d keep the heavy memories,
Which are gnawed-on by now like moony
Wheels of cheese.
But if I let all this go and drafted like a red-tail
On the pressure waves of the sky that makes
The LA pools so blue, I might not know what it meant
Without “Flying” playing in my head.
So I’ll stay on the ground today.