Every Ounce Counts Poem by Tom Courtney

Step up to the scale today
Time to weigh-in time to pay
For all those croissants for all that pie
For every day you do you die

Eating seems no fun no more
What once delighted’s now a chore
We crunch and chew on tasteless fiber
No more a glutton no more imbiber

Times have changed from days of old
Clean your plate mama would scold
Then in she’d bring the chocolate cake
Or lemon meringue a prize she’d baked

And life went on, and we grew stouter
We had no reason to ever doubt her
But now I’m harried cholesterol
High blood pressure one and all

Too much too much, we cannot fake
Our appetites this vast intake
And doctor says you must not smile
Until you’ve walked or run your mile

Let’s face the facts, the time has come
The mighty ounce has finally won
He shouts in loudest decibel
You must be slim, you must be well

The battle of the bulge goes on
From soup to nuts filet mignon
All the goodies we behold
Are measured first, the hot and cold

Today the question of which fork
To pierce into the piece of pork
Though etiquette is fast upstaged
The war on fat is loudly waged

The table’s turned, now less is more
My lo-cal spills, a crashing bore