in magazines
they show you everything you've always wanted:
a trim waist, a thigh gap, perhaps.

how odd -
they must've forgotten to put in
the empty stomachs containing
nothing but yesterday's fingernails.

it must've slipped their minds to publish the
dissolving teeth,
or the protruding bones,
or the skeletal ribcages.

i wonder what photoshop they use
to airbrush away
the harsh angles of needle-thin bones
and the spidery veins pulsing faintly beneath translucent skin
and the "no thanks, i already ate,"
and the "i'm fine, i swear."

it's almost funny -
i can't even tell when i'm hungry or not anymore.
almost funny, that is.