Drive to Thinness

Did the sound of the clicking hooves cause you to starve yourself?

Like a poor scavenger,
you fed on scraps of sin and servitude,
injecting guilt and regret into your lifeless, demonic veins.
As you pierced your flesh;
depleting your body
of love,
of innocence,
of respect.

How are you not full?

Has your throat not expelled the harrowing sins
you’ve been so intimate with?

Purging Riches

I weep riches.

As I admire the
delicate
rubies
that gush–

tickling my forearm,
suffocating
the bathroom grout with their
vibrant
red hue.

The leftover rubies gurgle,
seeping back into the
slivers
of my wrist,
waiting to be tucked in
by a tender,
fresh layer
of skin.

70 pounds of purity.
Bones.
Vomit.
Starvation.

I have never felt so wealthy.

Alyssa Mariel Gutierrez is a first-year Psychology PhD student and poet. Her work uses raw, vivid imagery that explores themes of body image, eating disorders, depression, and anxiety.

Image: Pablo Picasso, “Crouching Woman” [Internet Archive]