Dear Kimberly Henry - a slam poem about plastic surgery.

I wrote this in response to a plastic surgery ad I saw in the menu at a restaurant in California. It was this picture of a human barbie doll who's name was apparently Kimberly Henry, and it said "indulge yourself". The next day, on an airplane, I wrote this.

Sorry for the awful delay in the video.

If you want to contact me, you can email me at purple.kina@gmail.com, or message me on my tumblr, capulakina.tumblr.com

These are the words:
Dear Kimberly Henry, I saw your ad last night.
The menu at the cheesecake factory --
your smile so bright on the page next to the page
with the weight management salads.
So people have to know the calories of every order,
or they might accidentally indulge themselves in flavor,
and that's not right?
Because your ad says I should indulge myself under the knife. Because something about me is so broken and wrong? That I have to listen to every line of your song?
And follow every rule of your game?
Go on a diet?
Change my name?
Or go insane at my own reflection, or the scale?
Start calling myself an ugly pig cow whale?
Or remember I'm human, that's all I can be.
And my humanity is more beautiful than any sad plastic dream.
No, cuz if I let myself get happy, I might get fat.
Which I guess is even worse than being empty and needing?
Or on a table cut open and bleeding?
Or obsessing over numbers, or hiding behind clothes?
Or really believing there's no way I'll glow
unless change this, lose this, cut this, change that? You know what?
I'd rather be fat.
I'd rather be really fat, not just a pinch of some skin.
I'd rather remember that food isn't sin, because fat's just a word like blonde haired, or brown eyed. And when's the last time somebody starved themselves until they died, because their eyes weren't blue, even though they tried? And you know what?
The things you tell yourself are lies.
And they aren't your lies.
You aren't that creative.
You aren't the first one infatuated with self hatred.
You're just part of the chain on a rusty old bike,
and you've been pushed into the ground all of your life. Because it's so accepted? So wide spread and celebrated. That skinny is happy and fat is wrong?
It's written all over magazines and billboards and love songs and in me and in fucking everybody, so I wonder, Kimberly.
What happened to you?
That you risked your own life attempting to be beautiful? And you tell other girls that's what they should do?
And you reap love and peace like the grimmest reality,
and when I'm trying to eat you're all over my menu? Kimberly Henry, fuck you.
How dare you tell girls that plastic surgery is fun?
That they have to char their skin under a fake sun, and put plastic in their chest to be any fun, to laugh and to tease and weight and reweigh
and spend day after day
spreading more bullshit and causing more pain?
For the sake of their makeup, staying out of the rain.
More terrified to gain a pound t
han their health and dreams hitting the ground,
shattered by this cloud of despair
that's infecting people everywhere,
so you can find little girls who only care
about skipping lunch, and they don't even know, that in some reality, this isn't acceptable.
To scream at women all day and all night, how is it any better than when when women didn't have any rights? Because yeah I can vote,
and get a job,
but I have to shave my legs, get a tan, go on a fast, get a man, lose the weight as fast as I can, boast, compare, cry, lie, and die?
Fuck yeah I can vote, and I can also fly
away from this whole sea of toxic muck.
Because I don't really give a fuck what you say, and if you think I should have a problem with that?
No thanks, I'd rather be fat.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• poetry
• song
• performance
• anorexia
• bulimia
• ana
• mia
• weight loss
• face lift
• botox
• breast implants

[omgwtfcrystal]

Honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with plastic surgery.

I get that you're directing your poetry to a specific audience, but I just don't see what's so bad about wanting to be beautiful, or different, or anything at all.

You see people getting their tongue split in half and people praise them, but a girl that gets a nose job is immediately put down.

It's not bad. It was never bad.

[CapulaKina]

@omgwtfcrystal

I think body modification like piercings and tongue splitting is very different than plastic surgery, and this is why: people can dye their hair/get piercings/whatever because they want to celebrate/decorate the body that they have. it's not necessarily about covering up/changing things that they hate, or think are flawed.

not to say people can't do that. people do all sorts of things fueled by self hatred. but I think plastic surgery is ALWAYS fueled by self hatred.

[livinglegend1187]

Isn't a girl with dyed hair and pierces flesh being hypocritical when calling out plastic surgery?

Humm.. .yes.

But then, that's not a surprise. I could tell by looking at your view of the world is warped and shallow.

[CapulaKina]

@livinglegend1187

here are some facts:

In the US, yearly, more people die from liposuction than from car accidents. 19 out of 100,000 people die from liposuction. That's just one statistic. It's DANGEROUS.

There is a profound difference between self expression based body modification, such as hair dye, tattoos, and piercings, and risking your life to cut open your body, put things into it, take things out of it, and change the way your *face* looks, to try to meet a corrupt beauty standard.

[CapulaKina]

@livinglegend1187  fuck you.

[CapulaKina]

Thankyou for all the sweet comments, guys. <3

[mollybennett]

YOU ROCK. This is completely awesome. Keep writing and changing the world!

[Fabulousitist]

I've had so many surgeries I've lost count. I've had fat from my stomach put into my cheeks and ass. I've had 2 full facelifts and one mid facelift and a thread lift. I get botox and fillers regularly. Hell, I was even considering getting my lower two ribs removed to make my waist tinier, and 3 months ago I got breast and lip implants. To say I'm "not natural" is stupid. Nobody is natural. We get braces, we dye our hair, we wear makeup, we're all "fake." I just can't take you seriously.

[kisa154]

bottom line is, I'm against plastic surgery to the extent where it looks fake or "plastic", but something simple like a nose job to bring less attention to one's nose and more towards the natural beauty of their eyes or lips, or other more important features, is totally okay. and i think it's wonderful that this sort of oppertunity is there for people of today.

[kisa154]

and i dont mean plastic surgery for boob implants and stuff like that. THAT is fucking stupid. and i dont mean plastic surgery to make someone look like someone they're not. I mean small tweaks which bring out one's NATURAL beauty. everyone diserves to be pretty and feel pretty. the fact that some people are born attractive and some arent is just plain unfair.

[kisa154]

there is nothingggg wrong with plastic surgery. people judge based on appearence. its just the way minds work. looking good with nice clothes and a pretty faces gives one a sense of confidence. it makes one more appreciated for who they are, and makes one appreciate THEMSELVES more for who they are.

[hawaiivids]

love it. you go.

[TheBananaJello]

you were speaking way too fast lol, but other than that, everything about this video is amazing. keep being awesome and expressing yourself, we need more people like you in this world.

[omgwtfcrystal]

@CapulaKina

That's a legitimate opinion, but just to defend the kid born with a harelip, or the chick that got her face slammed into a gym locker, breaking her nose, or for the guy that had to struggle with fitting in because he had sagging jowls, we also have legitimate reasons for getting plastic surgery.

Yes, we hate that part of ourselves. But when we walk into that office, we're taking back what should have been ours. Plastic surgery is not ugly, society is.