Looking in the mirror, I think I am beautiful

Long hair

Tanned skin

Thin body

I walk along the shore of the beach

And see the other girls

            Prettier hair

                        Darker skin

                                    Thinner bodies

The boys look at me

But their attention doesn’t stay on me

My best friends are beautiful

More beautiful than I’ll ever be

I weigh 120 pounds

And I’m almost 5’3

            Eat less

                        Go for a run

                                    Suck it in

I casually flip through magazines

The girls on the TV define perfection

I want to be them but I’m not as lean

The media dampens my perception

My boyfriend makes fat jokes that I’m beginning to take seriously

The beauty that I felt before disappears mysteriously

            Don’t eat

                        Run faster

                                    Check the scale

Looking in the mirror, I turn sideways

Lift up my tank

And compare to the girls from the shore

The girls in the media 

The girls that everybody adores 

I would like to be like them

            But it’s hard

                        And it’s painful

                                    And I need to check the scale again