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 masks

are painted

individually

to show social status

the masks

have a million

reasons behind them

intimidate

protect

serve

separate

honor

remember

re-name

re-identify

but

i was always more fascinated

by the idea that people

living in small tribes

of less than a hundred

for their whole life

still need something

to hide behind

they still need to pretend

that they are something

or someone

else