anorexic

a woman crosses the street
so tall and thin that she appears to
jut forward nervously,
shaking, as if
her torso is her whole body
and her legs are those of a
daddy long legs spider--
or else she is what small children draw
when they mean to draw themselves
and their families--
a stick figure,
with only a face
and fine lines for torso and limbs,
with big goofy white-shoed feet
and no hands