'No Sugar' by Selina Burr
This poem came 5th place in our competition.
Note: The poem below is personal, raw and honest. Some people may find it triggering although it is not intended so.
"No Sugar"
My brother won’t eat
sugar or fat,
meat or flour.
He runs 18 miles
on a cup of
oatmeal.
His eyes are black
and his fingers
like bone.
I hear his shoes
slapping the pavement
at midnight.
He flies like
a hummingbird
who can't find nectar—
For as long
as he can.
Feedback
- good to see a relative perspective and very clearly affecting
- gives a clear message into the symptoms and feelings of the eating disorder. I like the repeating final line in each verse.
- gives a good insight into how an eating disorder can affect those close. Conveys feelings of helplessness.
- fantastic. Very apt and I could relate to the control aspect. Very well written.
- curiously, the short, ‘thin-lined’ poem, ‘No Sugar’, is linguistically underweight. It hits home with a message of exhaustion, frenetic exercise and minimal food intake. The relentless, unfed hummingbird framed in this underfed poem is haunting.
- will ring true with lots of young boys and men
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