The Disease of Perfectionists

by Cedar Clark

Content warning: eating disorder

Fragments of you,
scattered across the plate

as if hunger could be folded
into the corners of your napkin.

You carve
the emptiness with a fork
filling the void
with whispers of control,

counting every breath
like a calorie.

A cruel illusion
of bone and shadows.

In the quiet of the kitchen,
you measure worth
in empty plates

equating thinness
to something closer.

But even the scale
tilts towards nothing.

You are here, a heartbeat
woven through the fragility

of your own making,
searching for fullness

in the emptiness.

Dirty Bathroom

by Carol Radsprecher

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Cedar is an inspiring writer from Vancouver, British Columbia, who loves challenges. When they are not writing, they are curled up with a book, some coffee, and their cat. They enjoy writing poetry, prose, CNF, and many other genres.

Carol Radsprecher is a Brooklyn-based painter and digital printmaker. She earned her MFA in painting from Hunter College, CUNY, in 1988. Her work has appeared in several solo shows and numerous group shows and has been published in many publications.

Distortion of the human figure is a key element in her work. These distorted representations of the figure interact with abstract areas in a confined space. Most of her figures are representations of the female figure — one of the first landscapes we see as we enter the world.

Her website is https://www.Carol Radsprecher.com.