He doesn’t like the way he looks

So he leaves his tummy empty.

He changes the way he does his hair

And acts as if he’s twenty.

He makes all his friends laugh

They never see him crack

But when he’s alone

Behind doors of stone

There’s more behind his mask.

His eyes are deceiving

And so is his act

No one would ever know

That he’s way more abstract.

His mind is a battle field...

i always spend a lot of time

walking through the

African art area

of museums

the masks stare at me

with opaque eyes,

hollow, yet confident

portraying their users

as leaders, but leaders

who are afraid of something

the masks

hide the leaders

from the world

as if being removed,

as if being a tribe,

wasn’t enough

the masks

pay homage to spirts

and rulers of nature,

transforming the wearer

the m...

My arms sag with the weight of this paper mask I hold up to my face.

The constant disfigurement of my emotions is taking its toll, cent after cent of my soul, lost to the ether.

I am going insane.

Slowly.

But surely.

It eats away at my mind, picking off crumbs here and there, like a starving animal.

Pieces of me are dripping through my fingers like honey, leaving a sticky residue of sickly ...

I’ve worn my mask for so long,

I have forgotten what lies underneath.

Whatever it is, though, can rot like the rest of me, for this mask is all I care to see....

“I’m fine”

I say

Because no one would care anyway

Just a bunch of laughs and jokes

No one needs to know about the pillow that gets soaked

Just a mask of funny

To hide me, the ugly

No one will ever figure it out

Because they’re too busy trying to make their own clout

And when the mask will finally slip

But no notices because they don’t give a flip....

I ask, remove that porcelain mask

let your eyes reveal the tears you’ve hidden

shallow breaths from your pale lips

I wonder, have your emotions been forbidden?

This mask that you hide behind,

hang it up and let it dry,

you are a beautiful creature

and I promise to stay with you while you cry...

“Porcelain.

Delicate.

Beautiful.

That is what you ought to be.

Repeat after me.”

The mistress chanted

To the group of teens.

“Porcelain.

Delicate.

Beautiful.

That is what we ought to be.

That is what we ought to be.

That is all we ought to be.”

“Good, good” the mistress said.

Nodding her head.

Eyes cold and dead.

“Now what is she?”

Her fingers pointed to the girl.

With the cracked porcelain ma...

he told me of a mask, a bright “look at me” mask. he occasionally put it on, until one day he couldn’t look at himself without it on. he didn’t recognize the man looking back at him. he couldn’t bare to be alone with the man behind the act, he wore the mask to bed. he wore it while he brushed his teeth. dinner with the family was protected and controlled by the bright cast of fake happiness he wo...

Hide behind your masks,

Keep your secrets in your costume

You can live your life reading from an script,

But I’ll know, I’ll always know,

Your faking all your pain your bleeding on a stage.

You try to feed me lines that I have to memorise,

I will not act up here while you hide behind your lies

You can keep your costume, you can keep your mask

Your overanalysing every word I say,

There’s a who...

dancing with

a masked partner

I, too,

wear one.

because of course

this is a masquerade

you can not

recognize anyone

those locks of

golden blonde hair

could belong to your enemy

those strands of

greasy brown

could be those of your friend

here,

in this room,

we are all the same

so will you

take my hand

and dance with me?...