Remember Twiggy, her skeletal body was all the rave. That led us to
Form the V Club. Teachers thought we meant Glee club. (Not V for Vomit)
It wasn’t until three 8th grade girls were taken away in an ambulance that
the school got wise. I was called the Ring Leader which made me hear tinny
circus music.
My curvy mom came to see the school counselor with me.
The counselor said, (no kidding, her words exactly),
“Oh, now I get it, you’re Italian and predisposed to fat, pasta fat.
My mom smiled and replied, Yes, me and Sophia Loren.
Gloria’s published novel, The Killing Jar, is about one of the youngest Americans to serve on death row. Her memoir Learning from Lady Chatterley deals with her life growing up in Detroit. Breathe Me a Sky was published by the Moonstone Arts Center, and a collection of her poetry entitled The Dark Safekeeping, a chapbook, was published by Mayapple Press in 2022. She has published poems, essays, and pedagogical chapters in mainstream presses and literary journals. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist in The Longridge non-fiction contest.
Gloria Demasi Nixon-John
