bite-sized by Ashley Elizabeth

An Artists from Maryland micro-collection

In bite-sized, Ashley Elizabeth faces one of the most prevalent societal pressures of the patriarchy: body image. In thirteen poems, Elizabeth tells the story of many women growing up surrounded by pressures to fit a certain mold. The mirror morphs into the narrator’s enemy—the community surrounding the narrator, its villainous sidekicks. bite-sized goes from a story of a hero versus a villain, to a web of epiphanies. “i am supposed to like this body,” our hero says, entering the view of the stage lights. You can’t help but root for them.

“Poet Ashley Elizabeth slices fragments of life with an eating disorder into a series of sparse, gut-punching poems with bite-sized. Yet even with self-doubt, societal fatphobia, and Marie Claire’s passive-aggressive reminders to hydrate knocking at the door, this narrative of just one of the many tolls womanhood can take remains unafraid to take up space.”

—nat raum, editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press and author of totaled

“In the background of increasingly small plates and gulps of water before each meal, Ashley Elizabeth dissects life with an eating disorder, both the beginning and the recovery. With lines like ‘I have learnt to swallow / my hunger’ bite-sized articulates the meticulous planning behind an eating disorder, juxtaposing it with the chaos of emotion surrounding weight. Through contrasting two aspects of the body: one in disorder and one in recovery, Ashley Elizabeth ensures a clear understanding that recovery is a constant struggle, emphasizing the intensity of life with an ED.” 

—arushi (aera) rege, author of suburban suicides and BROWN GIRL EPIPHANY, EIC of ink & ivy lit mag and Bus Talk

Support Ashley Elizabeth through the following:

Venmo: @aethepoet
Cashapp: $aethepoet