I know how you felt
The nervous and chilly expressions
The not so subtle edging in the seats toward the isle.
I myself get the same reaction.
I just wanted to say,
“Sit next to me my rounded sister”
We will revel together in not fitting on the seat
My shoulders covering part of your seat
You half way into the isle.
That is why we sit in the back anyway
Maybe it is a blessing,
We are always the last
To have a neighbor in our seat
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
But you stood
Not wanting to confront the unwelcome receptions.
The judgments, the self-reassuring selfish reactions
The total lack of compassion, of humanity.
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
Look at their expressions
Just because you are clutching the seat behind them
Inconveniencing them by making them move in
Because the isles were not made to fit our voluptuous frames
I will not judge you because you do not fit neatly in the rows
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
I know you can see it in their eyes too
Just because you do not have the starving Somali look
That so sadly is their ideal
They think it’s your fault
Your fault for inconveniencing them
For not eating less, For not exercising more
“Why don’t you just slim down?”
“Why do you have to use public transportation being SO big?”
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
I know that pain in your eyes,
I have felt it to.
Rejection for what you cannot control
But wish you could
You avoid eye contact looking down.
We are told it is our fault
You cannot hide the guilt
For which you have nothing to guilty about
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
But I know it is more complicated than that
I know how you struggle, how you eat less
How you are taught to hate yourself
When there is so much to love.
I know how inconsiderate they are, how selfish their thoughts
talking obnoxiously about nothing
not caring about disturbing others on the transportation.
“Sit next to me my rounded sister”
Haven’t you noticed those bone protruding bodies taking 2 seats
Are also the same people letting us know their personal business
Talking into a small rectangular boxes?
So feel free to judge them as they do you
We can judge them together
“Sit next to me my rounded sister.”
So here’s to you my rounded sister
We are alike, rounded by G-d
Though colored differently
You are my sister
And hopefully next time there will be a fellow brother
Who will actually have the guts to say,
“Sit down here with me, my rounded sister.”
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