One Massive Masquerade

Here we go-

stretch out your muscles, pin back your hair, rehearse your routine, 

step into society's spotlight

It's time to participate in this daily dance

a graceful deception of our imperfect souls 

to only showcase what the audience will clap for

               or notice

               notice

how you'll hold back laughter if others stay silent

how people will criticize the misunderstood while actually consoling their own insecurities

how one girl eats alone everyday and you'll just assume it's not your problem to fix

how revealing an exclusive part of you causes them to walk away

how when tragedy strikes their sympathy feels transparent

how some people won't eat in public due to some strange new trend

how you bite your tongue and replace an opinion with a nod

how a greeting will never run deeper than "how are you" and "I'm good"

how the word love is tossed around but rarely permanent

how that boy wears a hat to shade his forged smile

how you'll fly through the motions and forget that you're the pilot


...have you noticed yet?


when it all just feels off

and your subconscious has a funny feeling, like the dawn of a calamity, when the waves recede from the shore or when tiny tremors shake the earth and the birds flee to the atmosphere

If you squint at the distorted image laid before you, it'll start to unravel

this is where you decide to stitch it back together or to rip it apart at the seams

continue this exhausting dance, or take a bow?

because when you're real, you're going to discover real people, and that's when you'll form real relationships and have real conversations and seize the chance to really live

don't hide your flaws, because being human is what we're good at. we are all remarkably shallow and incomprehensibly deep at the same time-

don't aim for perfection, because that's something no one achieves until they stop aiming for it



so this is me.

I'll laugh until I snort--- stay loyal to the people I care about--- love and never stop loving--- reach out to the castaways and pull them in--- eat what I crave and with no manners whatsoever--- voice my opinion when I want to be heard--- and try my best to make every day a little strange and a little unorthodox and a little extraordinary.