PENELOPE, ON A DIET
By Jehanne Dubrow
She’s tried them all before
and always failed, the war
against her waistline more
than she can win alone,
eating dinner on her own:
some broth, a chicken bone
clad in a scrap of meat,
a lettuce leaf replete
with vinegar. Defeat
is just a Hershey’s bar
away, the gallon jar
of peanut butter not far
enough beyond her reach.
Some dieters beseech
the gods for help. South Beach
and Atkins are divine,
two deities thin as twine.
Some women choose to dine
on nothing but the breeze,
or no white foods, or string cheese,
ham, and raspberries.
Some women pick protein
instead of carbs, caffeine
instead of lunch. They’ve seen
The opposite of fat
is never thin—it’s that
solitude she can’t combat,
No matter what she eats.
She’s still alone, still cheating
on a fast she won’t complete.
Another diet. There will
be no way then to fill
her stomach up, no pill
to kill the appetite.
Alone, she will recite
a prayer for each bite
of food. How good to digest
cardboard, how very blessed
that thirst can be suppressed.
13 rhyming tercets in third person voice
Internal rhyme in “pill” and “kill”; “than” and “can”;
Assonance in like vowel sounds “against” and “waistline”; “clad” and “scrap”; “leaf” and “replete”; “with” and “vinegar”’; “can’t” and “combat“; “she” and “eats”; “food” and “good”;
Also in “s” sounds of stanzas six, ten, and thirteen.
Repetition in “still alone, still cheating”
25 lines enjambed
Descending structure of line indentions and sparseness of verses mimics the diminishing nature of dieting.
Some elevated language in “beseech/the gods,” “recite a prayer,” “how very blessed,” and “deities.”
Alliteration in “lettuce leaf,” “two deities thin as twine,” “but the breeze,” “pick protein,” “carbs, caffeine,” and “can’t combat.”
Lines 5, 12, 17, 20, 27, 29, 30, 31, and 37 have seven syllables while the rest have six, except for line 21 which has five.
Title refers to mythical figure, wife of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, creating irony.
