Special Feature Collaborative Poem--By Carolyn Devonshire--United States and Terry O’Leary--France

Weighing in on Summer

by Carolyn Devonshire and Terry O’Leary

Colorful flowers and spaghetti straps
And my flabby arms from seams overlap
    But summer clothes still beckon
    It’s diet time, I reckon
Girdle needed, my tummy to entrap

With a look in the mirror I see
I'm as round as a bumble-ing bee
    Having so much on show
    (Yes, wherever I go)
A tri-kini I'll need at the sea

Seeking new ways for calories to burn
To wear a swimsuit, I’ll let famine churn
    Want to look provocative
    Avoid stares accusative
Hunger overwhelms, for ice cream I yearn

To reduce my excess was the quest
So it's needless to say I was stressed
    Eating soup made of prunes
    Through the pale afternoons…
Well then… now you can guess all the rest

But in order to taper and trim
Will require I burn at the gym
    So I think that I'll start
    With a blueberry tart
Then I'll have much more vigor and vim

Signed up for Biggest Loser on TV
So Jillian Michaels could torture me
    Pushing boulders up steep hills
    To accentuate the frills
Of small sundresses designed for Twiggy

Though some people may say that I'm stout,
Do they know what they're talking about?
    In all matters of size,
    The beholder's blue eyes
Discern only the parts hanging out

Jillian cracked the whip with no remorse
I dragged tired bones through the exercise course
    Now slim, I sleep peacefully
    Blessed with deep serenity
While friends say, “She makes a beautiful corpse.”