“Let us pray for a seat that sits not on an aisle
but a window so we may cling to the plane wall
in attempt to make ourselves small
enough”
— Rachel Wiley, “Pre-flight Prayer of a Fat Girl”

When you walk into urgent care to ask for pain medication after lifting with your back and not your knees, pray for one of the double-wide seats. Pray that a skinny girl is not sitting there with her legs crissed and crossed and apple-sauced. When she is sat there with room enough for two Norton Anthologies on either side of her hips, pray that the arms of the normal sized chair do not bruise the dips of your thighs. 

When the man you miraculously matched with on Tinder finally takes you out in public, pray that he tells the host inside. When he says that the weather is too nice to not enjoy, pray that the iron patio chairs hold the weight of your painted and prettied body. 

When you transfer to a different class because you’ve changed your emphasis to creative writing, pray for a room in a hall built after 2005. When the student portal says room 409 in the oldest building on campus, pray for a desk on the back row where no one will see how you’ve suction-cup stuffed yourself into the seat,

pray that your contortion skills can make you small enough.

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