Poetry About Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is a ghost that haunts the body it lives in. It is a voice that whispers lies about control, worth, and safety. These poems explore the painful reality of this struggle - the hunger, the shame, and the consuming obsession with numbers.

But they also speak to the possibility of recovery. To the day when food becomes fuel again instead of an enemy, and the mirror reflects a friend instead of a failure. It is a long road, but it leads back to life.

Featured Poems

The Hollow

The illusion of control.

I built a castle out of hunger, walls made of skipped meals and a moat of black coffee. I thought I was the queen, ruling over a kingdom of bone.

But the castle was a cage, and the crown was too heavy for a neck so thin. I was not ruling; I was shrinking until there was almost nothing left to rule.

- Ana Frame

Math

The obsession with numbers.

Life became a subtraction problem. Minus the bread, minus the joy, minus the laughter at the dinner table. I counted everything except the cost of my soul.

I was good at the math, but I failed the test of living. Zero is not a goal; it is an end.

- Cal Orie

Recovery

The first steps back.

The first bite was a war, a rebellion against the tyrant in my head. It tasted like fear, but also, faintly, like freedom.

I am learning to eat not just to survive, but to deserve to take up space. I am reintroducing myself to the girl who used to love cake.

- Hope Feeder

Classic Voices

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me (Excerpt)

by Delmore Schwartz (1938)

A poem about the inescapable drag of the physical body.

The heavy bear who goes with me, A manifold honey to smear his face, Clumsy and lumbering here and there, The central ton of every place...

Mirror

by Sylvia Plath (1961)

The mirror as an unbiased, cruel observer.

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful...

Micro Verses

Hunger is a liar that tells you empty is safe.

- Survivor

Your body is the house you live in. Don't burn it down.

- Architect

Swallow the fear, digest the love, grow strong.

- Healer

You are more than the number on the scale.

- Truth Teller

Deeper Explorations

Body Dysmorphia

The distorted view.

The Funhouse Mirror

Everyone sees a flower, I see a weed. The glass bends the light to show me what I bleed.

- Reflecta

Explore Related Poetry

Poetry About Life

Original and classic poems celebrating growth, resilience, and the everyday beauty of being alive.

Poetry About Death

Original and classic poems confronting loss, memory, and the quiet strength found in endings.

Poetry About Love

Poems that trace devotion, distance, and the enduring tenderness of human connection.