Love, our bigness is a gift. We are massively magnificent as we are.
Told to exercise our bodies as if demons & I am so tired of running
to lose myself. There will be no more dying to diet. I do not desire chasers
& am no longer chasing after silhouettes nor wild fowl nor paper-thin nor rainbows-end.
Forever yes fats yes fems yes queer yes trans! We reclaim any shame from the names obese
& overweight. Yes chunky & chubby! Yes portly & pudgy! Yes heavy & husky! Yes yes yes!
Our corpulence is elegant. We bask in the auras of our largeness. Come & sit. Grab a handful
of ass & yes there’s much more to handle. Titty in your mouth is a sweet word, never pejorative.
I find in you so many good words: handsome, stunning, wonderful, cute, pretty, hot, gorgeous–
Love, you extend my vocabulary with your expansiveness. We’ve been force fed falsehoods
about shrinking & smallness, yet we contain such abounding abundance. Attractiveness
is your body, yes, as well as your caring kindness, careful consideration. There will be
no more sighs upon our size, only our own honor upon our release & reveal, yes! Yes &
fat phobias too. So much yes & no felt in the body, it is okay to be scared & sad & mad
at these systems that dismiss our pains & hold us under the knife. We are still here, still holding
each other– not cropped out, no, more crop tops & muffin tops, bikini bottoms & bottoms up, yes
in any season we please! Love, we have beautiful bodies. We are more than our bodies
& our bodies are more to love. We sit naked in front of each other, belly to belly,
thunder thighs & lightning strikes. We make our own sky of stretch mark constellations
& starry eyes full of moon. Love, we are so much yes, why would we want to be any less?
Aerik Francis (they/them) is a Queer Black & Latinx poet & teaching artist born & based in Denver, CO. Aerik is the author of the poetry chapbook, BODYELECTRONIC (Trouble Department 2022). Their second chapbook MISEDUCATION was named as the winner for the 2022 New Delta Review Chapbook Contest and was published in May 2023. Aerik has released an experimental audiobook project for their chapbook BODYELECTRONIC under their artist name phaentom[poet] that is available on all streaming platforms. Find more of their work on their website phaentompoet.com and find them on social media @phaentompoet.