Tell her that the way her bones stick out from her body is sexy

Explain to her that you don’t like “big girls”

Tell her that the gap in her thighs

put there by her lack of nutrition doesn’t make her look unhealthy,

it makes her look strong

And the Tim Burton-esque distortion of her body

is the hottest that thing you have ever seen

She will tell her friends and gloat about your compliment

They will try to tell her that Tim Burton’s work is a fantasy for a reason,

It was never meant to come to life

 

So you better have her brainwashed so she won’t believe them,

So that when her friends try to tell her that she should leave you

That she should try to get better

She will instead leave them

And only try to better the image you want her to be.

 

Tell her that girls who have shapely bodies are undesirable

Unlike Meghan Trainor, you definitely aren’t All About That Bass

And your anaconda don’t want none if she has buns, hun.

 

Tell her that her body is not a beautiful piece of artwork,

but a sculpture that could still use some clay shaved off the edges.

She will understand that you don’t realize that her body has the strength of marble

which is not chipped away so easy,

but she will try,

She will do everything she can to be the image of beauty in your eyes.

 

Do not under any circumstances call her beautiful

God forbid she starts to believe it,

You might actually have to buy her dinner sometime

Not that she would be able to eat much anyway

because after the years of denial

her stomach has shrunk to the point that food is now an enemy

 

When she comes to you and tells you that she realizes she has a problem,

tell her you don’t know what she is talking about

 

Tell her that she is the ideal and others need to follow her example

when she eats more than normal,

give her a look that makes her feel undesirable

Do not kiss her or even look at her again until she returns to her normal habits

When you’re with her

and you have talked her out of the clothes she buys three sizes too big

because she thinks they are the size she needs

and you run your hands over the jagged planes of her rib cage,

through her dry and thinning hair that falls with every stroke

Take her into your arms,

hold her tightly so that you can relish in the bruises later

As her body gets

smaller

and smaller

And smaller

And smaller

and her skin gets

grayer

and grayer

And grayer

And grayer

until she is lying in a hospital bed sharing with you her last moments

tell yourself that this is what you wanted.