Marasmus

Marasmus is the condition in which a person is no longer nourished — neither with calories nor with protein, neither in sufficient quantity nor in sufficient depth. The body begins to consume itself. First the fat reserves, then the musculature, and finally the tissue of the organs. What remains is a body consisting of nothing but skin and bone. Medically this is the most severe form of malnutrition — particularly dangerous in infants and small children, often fatal if rapid and expert intervention is not made.

Marasmus is not an image for a poetic text, but a real, silent catastrophe that occurs millions of times over — mostly where poverty, war, or illness has destroyed the nutritional foundations. Behind every individual case stands a concrete person, a concrete body, a concrete suffering that must not be romanticised.