What I Know - A Slam Poem

Let me tell you what I know
I know the sky is blue and the grass is green
I know oblivion is inevitable
I know I'm a big girl
And don't tell me otherwise because
I know that you're lying

I know what the doctors have been telling me since third grade,
"You are in the overweight percentile for your age group. Maybe you should cut out dairy?"
Like telling a nine-year-old girl, to cut out a main food group was a good idea.

I know that in my freshman year I lost 30 pounds for state fitness testing
That wouldn't let me graduate unless I'm a certain weight, because
I have a knee injury that prohibits me from running a mile in under seven minutes
Due to a jacked up system that says if you weigh more, you should run faster

I know that I am terrified of liking a boy thinner than me,
Because of the off chance they wanted to pick me up,
I feel like I would crush them

I know that I hate shopping because when I want to wear that cute daisy crop top,
I get told, "Only skinny girls can wear that."
By my own mother nonetheless

I know society needs to stop making fat an insult and skinny a compliment
What does "skinny" look like? Those girls in the magazines? Sweetheart!
Those girls in the magazines don't even look like those girls in the magazines
All because our society demands unrealistic perfection

I know that in high school I would never have had the courage to say these things
Because I was nervous on how people who may or may not remember me in four years may react
Fuck it. Listen to what my loud mouth has to say and I will tell you what I know

I know I am a big girl, and I know that's okay
I know that I'm still scared of what you're going to say
I know that that was a rhyme
Now let me thank you for your time