Cattle Brand by Kimberly Coverly

Cattle Brand by Kimberly Coverly

The words sting like a slap to the back.

Pain, the kind that you don’t feel right away.

At first, it is masked, maybe by a joke

But then, suddenly it creeps up on you

Slowly, suffocating you like a snake.

Cutting off all circulation, no breath.

A single tear signals the searing hurt.

Like a cattle brand it burns, marks for exile.

“She probably eats a million calories”

They smirk when I walk by, they have no idea

This metabolism is not up to me.

But they don’t care, “Look she makes a big splash”

Im not good enough to meet their standards.

Driving through that red light became an option

Maybe then they would feel bad for big me.

My right foot left the accelerator.

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Why should they win when my life was at hand?

Who are they to say if I am pretty?

Precocious, the perfect term to describe,

Those prim and proper, preppy people in high school.

They are the ugly ones if you ask me.

While they spend all of their seconds on me

They have forgotten a branding iron

Leaves scars on the hands of the farmer as well.

They will forever have dirt on their hands

They might not be able to see it

But I will see it for eternity.

They don’t know the effect they have on me.