The astounding poem “Earth” by Meredith Avera flawlessly conveys the themes of loving one’s self and beauty through short but inspiring lines. This poem was really relatable with the topic, but added its own twist to it. Avera compares our own beauty to the beauty of the natural world. She contrasts the two by first writing that “I feel like my body has betrayed me,” but later on asking “But then again, / Do the mountains / betray the Earth / by being too tall?” It really kept me thinking about the truth behind its words.
As a teenager, I deal with self-image, as many other people of this age do. Society believes that beautiful girls have huge chests and bottoms, curvy but not extremely curvy, or you’re considered “fat.” It causes me to wonder if I’m good enough for people to appreciate me. However, Avera makes a perfect point that parts of nature are never judged for being too tall or too low, and so people should appreciate themselves for just being their own self. It isn’t a curse to be unable to live up to society’s ridiculous requirements, because the only thing that matters is your opinion about yourself. And the Earth does not judge its own qualities, so you shouldn’t judge your own.