She tells him this:
We press our bodies
together onto a truck scale.
We whisper and look around
surreptitiously at each other.
We huddle and squawk and
titter nervously.

Our leader reads the digital number aloud.

IF we've collectively
gained weight, we rue our
gross bodies. We groan and weep
and spend the next forty-five
minutes doing arduous
calisthenics.

BUT if we've lost weight,
en masse, a pound or less,
a pound or more,
then we write our
GREAT BIG NUMBER
on an enormous placard and
we march up the stairs.
We abandon the basement
of the church. We pour out
into the parking lot.

We parade around to the front lawn.
We clamber onto each others shoulders.
We make a human pyramid. We hold
our placard high. We wave and
cheer. We attract the attention
of the passing cars.