They were identical twins,
Laura and Amy,
shared a humidicrib
and clung
to one another
with tiny pink hands
two halves of one
They both loved to run
running was freedom
faster than everyone
they ran and swam
hour after hour
lap after lap
they were fantastic
'You'll have to eat'
their mother said
'If you're going to run
and swim so fast.
You can't do it on nothing! '
But they could
and they did
and pretty soon
at age fourteen
they were diagnosed
with anorexia
'Let's get down to
twenty-five kilos? '
I saw their picture in the paper
the other day
they were thirty-six
and skin and bone
they looked so old
like victims from Belsen
- only their hair was dyed
and cut in yellow spikes.
They live on the pension
they have osteoporosis
they don't run any more
Why don't you get better?
'Get Better? What is better?
We love our anorexia
It's the only thing
we've got left
to make people
care about us.'
Alison Cassidy
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-two-of-us/
