Is it really perfect?

Skinny is a six letter word that haunts me at night.

Skinny is perfection, at least that's what I've learned.

It's skin and bones; no skin to pinch.

Fat is a three letter word that I see in the mirror.

It's the flesh that rolls down sagging off of my bones.

Pretty is a six letter word that I will never feel.

Make up or none, red splotches or none

what I see is all the same.

Ugly is a four letter word that I will never be free of.

My eyes are too close together.

My thighs are too big.

My stomach is not flat enough.

What has social media done to the teenager?

These are the words that frighten me,

the words that keep me up at night.

If anything at all could change, I would change this.

I would change the things they advertise.

The things they call "perfect"; what they tell us we should be.

Maybe, just maybe then, we wouldn't hate ourselves so much.