it is okay to eat

By Linda Crate

i always had insecurities

your staring only made

it worse,

and i never understood

why it was so funny

to watch me eat;

was it the way my anxiety

chose to manifest and how

i simply froze when i realized

you were all staring at me?

my mother told me 

closet eating wasn’t good 

for me,

but didn’t seem to understand why

i had a hard time eating in front of others;

still do—

i have learned to love myself

despite the insults you lot always 

gave me through the years,

and i am learning that it is okay to eat.

Copyright© 2021 by Linda Crate