Zero Hour

29-01-2007

Organisers of the forthcoming London Fashion Week are still resisting calls for a ban on Size Zero models, even though Madrid and Milan have both taken tough action against anorexia on the catwalk. So will The Stirrer's resident poet Brendan Hawthorne be ogling the skinny birds? Fat chance.

Seams are fit to burst

in the modelling trade

where numbers

have never been so big

when jostling for the

breakthrough first in

diminishing bodylines

and down-sizing to

the unnatural grade

They say that creation

hangs better when teetering

on the glitzy catwalks

of shame or when

spread across the stapled

pages of a magazine nation

pushing out the body image

feature of perfect skin and

angled bone

Maybe it's just a matter

of statistical economics

that an industry

takes the anorexic line

when dishing up its

low fat political patter

and uses less fabric

to cover up its

diva histrionics

Bring out the out size!

Doll up those size eighteen mannequins

and let the countdown commence

towards common sense

and the hour glass frame

without redress or compromise

There's no zero in hero-ine chic

Let's remove those

forced smile shenanigans

and celebrate

big time!

Copyright 2007 Brendan Hawthorne

Find out more about Brendan and other local poets at www.poetrywednesbury.co.uk