I swear I got chills, this took me by surprise. I'm happy this is nominated, but at the sam time sad I didn't get to it first.
"It was never about the weight."
^
THIS LINE!!!! Omg it says a lot.

Thank you so much for sharing this. You're amazing :)

I felt this poem to the very core of my being. Personally I'm definitely getting more comfortable with my body but the changing of clothes is something I feel being gender fluid. My personal battle is more with food. Which you could say is what this poem is about as well.

The poem as a whole is a testament to eating disorders and how much people struggle with it all. Nothing feels like it fits right at all and even though it's not about the weight in your eyes, the world at large is cynical about people being too fat or too skinny. From personal experience and being gender fluid with an eating disorder myself, I resonated with the poem greatly. I wear loose shirts and dresses, shorts, huge clothes to hide myself. I have binge eating disorder.

I liked the poem as a whole because it does well to tell a story that many people can relate to, the emotional ties are greatly worded as well. Everything hits home, especially the clothes lines here and the fact that you nailed it on the head with the vanity lines. I wouldn't change anything as I didn't see any mistake.

The mind and body for some is a love and hate relationship. I was part of OA (overeaters anonymous) for some years and I still have no idea the language my body speaks. I always thought the disconnect is me trying to fit in a vessel that I didn't pay the passage for. I'm the traveler in the boat that creaks violently against the prevailing waves and winds, not knowing how to steer or operate its sails. I'm just the nobody on this vessel that demands everything from me. And we haven't even got into the subject of body image yet. Your poem is extraordinary in its simplicity to bring about complicated emotions and ideas that resonates with so many. Thank you.

This is a powerful piece that is very relatable to many people. I suffered from anorexia in my teens and no matter how much weight I lost I still see the monster in the mirror. What changed my life was looking at a printed family photo. I realised that what I saw in the photo was entirely different than what I saw in the mirror. In the mirror was a huge person that needed to lose weight but in the photo my bones were sticking out and I looked really ill. It took time and the support of some really lovely friends but I managed to get back to a healthy weight and maintain it for most of the time at least. It's really great that poems like this are being written because it helps raise awareness of eating disorders. Milly x