Fat Girl Forms

by Stephanie Rogers

Written entirely in traditional and invented forms, Stephanie Rogers’ Fat Girl Forms explores how it feels to move one’s body in a world not built to hold it. She examines the way society humiliates fat women, especially those who don’t conform to conventional standards of beauty. Brash, sassy, and in your face, this second full-length collection depicts one fat woman's challenge to a culture that constantly tells them that they are unwanted, unloved, unworthy, all of this done in verse forms full of panache and élan.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2021

Reviews

[Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible collection.

[Matt Feltman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie Rogers' constricting form poems hit the body like knives, cutting into skin like the insults and jibes that confront her on a regular basis. I cannot recommend this poetry book enough. Read it--devour it! It clearly will resonate with any woman who lives in our heterosexist, heteronormative society. And to straight men, reading it just might save you from your own casual misogyny.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exploration of constraint as it relates to self worth, diet culture, and misogyny. While reading Stephanie Rogers’ Fat Girl Forms, I pondered the multiple definitions of the word “form.” Yes, quite literally, Rogers’ project collection is somewhat of a poetic checklist: Pantoum, check! Ghazal, check! Duplex, check! At the same time, each of the 51 different poetic styles weighs in on the myriad ways our culture demonstrates its contempt for fat people, particularly fat women, from casual fat shaming to dehumanizing doctor’s appointments as if to say, “fatphobia, like poetry, can come in many forms,” “fatphobia, like poetry, can come with varying constraints.” It’s a middle finger to societal rules that govern human bodies while submitting to a set of rules that govern how language can be used.

As a form enthusiast, I delighted in Rogers’ interpretation of classic forms — sonnet, villanelle, abecedarian — as well as her serving as a liaison between me and modern forms I had never encountered — rubliw, minute, clang. Though the collection did not contain a glossary outlining the constraints of each form, each poem’s title consisted of “Fat Girl” plus the style (“Fat Girl Tanka,” “Fat Girl Sestina,” etc.) which made for easy internet searching. The only form I could not find information on was “the clang.” I had to contact the author herself to ask. She forwarded a picture of the excerpt from Lewis Putnam Turco’s The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, Including Odd and Invented Forms. However, when I ordered my own copy — the most recent edition — it did not contain this form, nor information on this form’s attributed inventor, Llewelyn Nicholas. The clang’s excerpt must reside within an earlier edition of the guide.

If pressed to find an opportunity for improvement, I would question the simplicity of Rogers’ titles. On the one hand, the repetitive nature of the titles forces the reader to draw their own conclusions of the content without introductory influence. On the other hand, they often felt like throwaway titles; a title given only out of necessity lest each poem be “Untitled.” I, personally, would have preferred titles that showed more forethought and intention, that grounded me in the poem with an italicized note underneath announcing the poetic form in use.

Despite this minor critique, Fat Girl Forms is a book that will collect dog ears, spine creases, and margin notes rather than dust on my bookshelf.

[Hallie Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic premise! i love the idea of using traditional and found forms to explore the ways fat women are told we don’t “fit,” physically/socially/romantically/etc. i love learning new poetic forms, so it was so cool to see all of these, and to read more of some of my favorite forms. standout poems include: “Fat Girl Rondeau,” “Fat Girl Rispetto,” “Fat Girl Monotetra,” “Fat Girl Penta Rima,” “Fat Girl Sestina,” and “Fat Girl Abecedarian.” this was a great collection & i highly recommend for fellow fat people to read, poets to read to explore form, and also thin people to read to understand a bit more about the fat experience, at least through rogers’ lens.


“The thing is—are we greedy / to want? Because I’m fat, / I hide inside an ocean / of guilt, my body a flat / note in a pretty // melody.”

[Brittany Richmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of poems was not only very powerful about the pain and beauty of being a “fat girl,” but also in the forms that it represents. I have marked many poems that blew me away from language and also forms that I want to try. It’s amazing the forms and the things that language can do if you find the right words and phrasing. It’s beautiful, along with the entire concept of this collection.

4/5 stars for something raw and full of emotions while still exposing the true art of poetry!

[Danny Frankwich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rogers' use of form is masterful, but I felt the content was shallow and lost its effectiveness with repetition.

[Zoë · Rating 5 out of 5]

unrelenting exploration of form

[Sara Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up spontaneously at AWP because the title is great. A fun collection of fat formal poems. I enjoyed it a lot 💕

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems written entirely in form - some traditional, such as a sonnet, some new and invented - that focus on being a fat girl.

from Fat Girl Rondelet: "I strut the street / with this fat body. Swaying my hips, / I strut the street / and swirl. Fat body greets the heat / on summer days."

from Fat Girl Penta Rima: "The thing is - are we greedy / to want? Because I'm fat, / I hide inside an ocean / of guilt, my body a flat / note in a pretty // melody."

from Fat Girl Abecedarian: "All my life I've hated my / body. Even thing I hated my body enough to / carve int0 the skin of it, / dance the blade over it"