Slimsy

(is my sex or self to blame
for my thoughts on slimsy folk?)

i scoff at our obsession (with perfection),
fully cognizant of its yoke (around my neck).
i criticize bodies evidencing vertebrae
and will girls to discover self-worth.
even so, standing before a mirror
i engage in mental nips and tucks.
and my fingers grasp paper
as i stand in the magazine aisle.

(is it nature or nurture
that makes muscles appealing
and fat reviled?)

i look at pictures from my youth
and envy my slimmer self.
at the same time i note
an absence
of womanly curves.
it seems bodies garner attention --
bony and buxom alike.

(all of us can judge the physical world
but do any of us truly have the right?)