The Elephant In The Room

Here I am 
In the midst of 
Wellbeing promoters and 
Diabetes preventers and 
Obesity tacklers and 
Inactivity busters and 
Life extenders and 
Inequality enders and 
Champions of healthy starts 
And middles and ends 

Here I am 
An example of everything 
We are trying to eradicate 
A living breathing 
Textbook illustration of 
Patient PH 
Marking the spot 
Where deprivation indices and 
Risk factors and vulnerabilities and 
Childhood adversities and 
Multiple morbidities and 
Problematic ethnicities and 
Obesogenic geographies and 
Systemic inequities 
Intersect

And here I am 
Gloriously obvious 
And really hard to miss yet 
Somehow not quite looked at 
A voice and body 
Of lived experience yet 
Somehow not quite heard or asked  
But that’s understandable, isn’t it 
Because it isn’t exactly the polite thing, is it 
To bring it up 

And here I am 
Where maybe I shouldn’t be 
With my inconvenient body and 
The inconvenient truth it reveals and 
The inconvenient questions it poses and 
My imposter syndrome and
My shame spirals and 
My confidence drops and 
My affront-to-all-we-stand-for weight gains 

Yet, here I am 
Here 
Not there 
Here 
Not anywhere else 
Here 
At the very heart of 
Good health headquarters 
Of all the rooms 
In which God could have placed 
The elephant 
He chose this one 

So here I am 
And now that I am here 
How do I make that count?