I speak French
Learned it young
summers in Montreal,
whispers of croissant and merci
curling in my mouth like a song.
I’ve studied Hebrew
five years now
each syllable a bridge
to ancestry and prayer.
I love language.
The way words shape thought,
build meaning,
open doors.
But fluency?
Fluency I found elsewhere.
In grams, in ounces,
in net carbs and cheat days.
I speak Diet.
Like a native.
Like a missionary.
Like it was the only dialect
that would keep me safe.
I still know the calorie count
in ¼ of an avocado.
Still know the Points
in ½ a banana.
Still feel the accent
of shame when I eat
“too much,”
“too wrong,”
“too late.”
Imagine…
if instead,
I had studied Spanish,
Italian, Russian.
What might have opened
instead of what closed?
What poems could I have written
in a language of belonging,
what love could I have spoken
to myself?
What would I have heard
if I wasn’t busy
translating my hunger
into guilt?
A client once told me
she could have fed a village.
Another said she might’ve
become a doctor.
And me?
Maybe I’d have been a polyglot.
Maybe I still will be.
But first,
I must unlearn
the only language
that ever asked me
to disappear.
~ Nina Manolson
Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.
She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.
Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.
Start your Body-Peace® journey with this free masterclass that will help you understand and shift your relationship with your body.
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