Proportions

I am big.
And yet I am small.
My shoulders broad.
My thighs thick.
My torso tall.
My trust of this strong.
And yet, once again, here I am
Asking if I can fill the gap within your mind
And between your thighs
For you see, as big a man as I am, I am not
My mind weakened by my pursuit of this so called Vitruvian Man
The Canon of Human Proportion has caused me a great distortion
I cannot purely embrace what has been given to me.
I am the superficial man.
I crave masculinity
I fear the effeminate
My big butt
My large hips
Society has created a proportion of which my body cannot conform
Am I trapped?
Yes, but not by society
Society has not wronged me
I have wronged myself
For you see, society gives an opinion, of which all of us can see
But society does not care about you nor me
It needs my abnormalities as much as I crave it's input
I am blessed
Blessed that society will never be whole without me.
I can sleep knowing that societies opinion will never be as true as the labels I give myself.
So yes, I am big
And yes, I am small
But above all I am me
A man understanding of his skin

Author's Note

First creative writing piece

Reviews

[Adambomb]

Mr. Robert, what a wonderful first creative writing piece! It takes a lot of courage to express oneself honestly, especially beyond ones self! The reception of this work, as you say, should not matter to you. However, I think this is a wonderful poem. I can only speak for myself, and I have struggled with society's definitions and values. I like how you settle this with appreciating your values more, and understanding that your values, even if nonconforming or not traditional, are a part of society. I think this contrast is really powerful and I was very moved by your work. I like how you start with a materialistic insecurity of your appearance, and end with a deeper conclusion relating to your more fundamental insecurity. And I love how you conclude on such a positive, reaffirming notion! Very inspirational. Keep writing!