Featured Poem: Thin

"Thin" is a wonderful poem by Lee Hi;. In this week's Featured Poem, we take a closer look at this amazing poem!

How would you summarize Thin?

I sort of tried to portray it as someone dying almost. It's a girl that has been struggling with body issues, particularly anorexia. As her body weakens from lack of nutrients she starts to get weaker and colder until eventually she dies.

How did you choose the title for it?

I wanted something short and sweet, haha. I'm not really one for long titles, usually. It just seemed like the best word to kind of summarize the poem.

What inspired you to write this poem?

I wrote this poem for an anthology project for my English class a few years ago. I got the idea for the poem from the book Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. The plot about the girl having anorexia comes from the story plot itself, since that is the issue that the main character is struggling with. I got a lot of the ideas for imagery from the book cover. It's the one with all the different colors and it looks like the girl is behind something frozen. It sort of reminded me of someone freezing to death and I associated that with my poem. I imagine people struggling with this issue to always be very cold because they're so thin.

What was your favorite thing about writing Thin?

I think all of it, haha. I liked messing around with everything and trying to portray everything that I wanted.

When writing, do you have any rituals you follow?

Not really. Once I get an idea I just try to get into the mindset and focus.

Is there anything you would like to say to anyone who reads your poem?

Ahh, I'm not good at advice or anything like that. I think, maybe, that you just have to be humble when you're writing. It's good to think that you're writing is good, but it's also good to second guess yourself sometimes and think, I could write this better. And if you're just a reader I encourage you to keep an open mind, and that kind of goes the same for writing, too. You might discover something new about a piece, or even yourself.

Do you have any other poems you think people would enjoy?

I think a lot of people would enjoy What Teenagers Want. It was also written for my English class and it's a spoof off the poem What Women Want. It's got some language in it so it may not be for everybody, though.

Special thanks to Formaldehyde. and Maddi; for editing!