JC
We love the way Bow Anderson speaks directly to her body. Let’s use her song as inspiration for a serious – but very fun – writing activity!
- MUSIC FOCUS: Bow Anderson.
- ACTIVITY FOCUS: Write a letter, poem, song or story.
ACTIVITY 1
Highlight – or make a list of – all the different verbs Bow Anderson uses to foreground* her lines. Also highlight – or make a note of – any other interesting sentence starters.
*when a word is foregrounded it is used at the start of a sentence.
Bow Anderson: ‘Dear Body’
Started when I was a child
Watching my mom go on a diet
I thought maybe I should try it
Dropped a size and lost my mind in the process
Toxic secrets, I made you keep
I starved you out when you needed to eat
But now that I see it
I wanna set you free
Waking up afraid of change
I put all my self-worth on my weight
Living on compliments from strangers
Self-criticising in the mirror, years later
Dear body, I just wanna say I’m sorry
‘Cause I’d never do this to somebody else
But it’s easy to hurt myself
Dear body, you’re taking good care of me
I wish I could say the same about you
After all that I put you through
I’m sorry, dear body
Dragged myself back to the gym
When it was therapy, I should’ve been in
I’ve never felt good in my skin
And I still wear a T-shirt when I swim
Ruined so many holidays
Skipping the birthdays ’cause of cake
Count every last little taste
Wondering when it would show up on my thighs or my face
I know better now that I’m older
But in photos, I still hate my shoulders
I wanna heal this
I wanna set us free
Dear body, I just wanna say I’m sorry (I’m sorry)
‘Cause I’d never do this to somebody else
But it’s easy to hurt myself
Dear body, you’re taking good care of me
I wish I could say the same about you
After all that I put you through (through)
I said, you were too big
Then you were too small
Too many curves, or none at all
Why was I so cruel when you’re me, and I am you?
I’m sorry, dear body
Dear body, I just wanna say I’m sorry
‘Cause I’d never do this to somebody else
But it’s easy to hurt myself
I’m sorry, dear body
ACTIVITY 2
Now, use that collection of words to direct your own piece of writing. Write a letter to one of the below:
- your own body
- your own younger self
- a bird perched in a tree
- an old cuddly toy
- a friend or family member
- a favourite chair
- a character from a book you’re reading
- anything/anyone else you might find it fun to write to!
If you prefer, instead of a letter, write a song lyric, a story or a poem.
Whichever task you take on, make sure you use as many of these sentence starters as possible:
- Started
- Watching
- Dropped
- Waking
- Living
- Self criticising
- Toxic
- After
- Dragged
- Ruined
- Skipping
- Count
- Wondering