Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale...(but it COULD be)

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane Yolen

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.

I am thinking of a fairy tale
that is not yet written,
for a teller not yet born,
for a listener not yet conceived,
for a world not yet won,
where everything round is good:
the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.

Although I LOVE fairy tales, and this poem is somewhat bashing them, this poem in particular stood out to me because of its focus on the "typical cookie cutter princess." Its spoof off of some well known fairy tales is quite humorous (Cinder Elephant vs. Cinderella, Sleeping Tubby vs. Sleeping Beauty, etc.). It's true, all the princesses in fairy tales are what society would consider to be ideal. This poem just dramaticizes the wrongness of this fact in society. PRINCESSES are skinny, so everyone else should be too. But people come in all shapes and sizes, even princesses and characters in fairytales.