Loving Your Body in 5-7-5

Starting in 2006, for NOW's Love Your Body Day, our volunteers, staff and users have been creating haiku about body love and acceptance on our message boards.

It's resulted in some fantastically cool pieces over the years, so we figured we'd share a few of them today as it's that fine day yet again!

dry mouth crooked teeth
smiling never stops despite
himself, filling doubt
- foraday

Fuller or thinner
My luxurious body
Rejoices to live
- Juniata

"Ew, don't wear tight stuff."
Said to me some years ago
Finally past it
- Hyancithe

Chopsticks might seem nice
But I walk on prized columns
So show some respect
- Insecure-Poetry

my eyes, almond-shaped
brown like the good earth, birthright.
china's descendant.
- winsome

my feet are too big?
mom, look at how I stand here
stable on this earth
- bluejumprope

Big tits, big round bum
but comes with a little tum,
it's proportional.
- Lady

skin hangs loose, with marks
from my belly, he emerged
tiny baby feet
- Alice

Dark as chocolate,
Warm and kind. With the eyes of
grandmother I see.
- James the Dark

thunder thighs alight!
muscle any obstacles
challenge those who dare
- Blue Koi

What I see, in fact
is not what you see at all.
You see a woman.
- Bun Bun

This post is part of the 2011 Love Your Body Day Blog Carnival. For more posts in the carnival, have a click on that link! Want to see the rest of these haiku or pen your own? Here's where they live on our boards.

Want to know more about Love Your Body Day? Here's NOW's letter about it this year:

Today, the National Organization for Women Foundation celebrates its 14th annual Love Your Body Day -- a day when women of all sizes, colors, ages and abilities come together to celebrate self-acceptance and to promote positive body image. Since the launch of Love Your Body Day in 1998, NOW Foundation has used the campaign to challenge the unrealistic beauty standards and gender stereotypes promoted by the media, Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries.

"It's time to start valuing women for the contents of their character rather than their appearance," said NOW Foundation Education Vice President Erin Matson. "We're fed up with unhealthy images and messages, and we want to encourage women and girls to celebrate themselves not only on Love Your Body Day, but every day."

Research show that the U.S. spends over $33 billion on weight-reduction programs, diet foods and beverages, and more than 50 percent of women say they would consider having plastic surgery. Statistics revealed in the new documentary "Miss Representation" are shocking: The number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on patients 18 or younger more than tripled from 1997 to 2007. Among those 18 and younger, liposuctions nearly quadrupled between 1997 and 2007, and breast augmentations increased nearly six-fold in the same 10-year period.

This year, NOW Foundation is hosting its first ever Love Your Body Day Blog Carnival in which writers from all walks of life will share their thoughts about the effects of advertising and the media's influence on women and girls. Blog carnival topics will range from eating disorders to children's body image awareness.

NOW activists and women's advocates will host a variety of events across the U.S. to help raise awareness about body image and women's health issues. Hollywood NOW's events will include a panel discussion featuring body image experts and special host Meghan McCain. Other NOW chapters and groups are planning body-positive style workshops, programs offering free eating disorder screenings and much more.