Eating Matters

Kara-lee MacDonald is a survivor. The poems in Eating Matters are sophisticated explorations of anorexia and bulimia, from within and in retrospect, as the semiautobiographical narrator faces and overcomes her complex drives and compulsions. Through a variety of poetic forms, she explores the deep structures of body images and societal pressures that create and promulgate eating disorders and the culture of shame surrounding them. The poems will strike a chord in those who have experience with the illnesses and subtly educate those who have not. Throughout MacDonald maintains an edgy authenticity that will both horrify and inspire.

From Princess Diana to the problem with baking and the tyranny of mirrors, Eating Matters brings new life to a topic often discussed but seldom understood. Part trauma travelogue, part self-analysis, part cultural critique, part healing journey, MacDonald addresses the hidden world of the binge/purge purgatory. You will share in her struggle and triumph.

Kara-lee Macdonald

Kara-lee MacDonald currently teaches English at the Fort St. John Literacy Society and is completing an MA in English (UNBC) that explores the relationship between food, body, and power. Her poetry has been previously published in Dreamland Magazine. She is a lifelong resident and lover of Northern BC.