i set up my smile

i put on my face

using my tool box

i paint, i create

 

the girl that you see

takes a whole lot of time

to be put together

to say “oh, I’m fine”

 

the girl in the mirror

is not what’s inside

the girl in the mirror

is trying to hide

 

the glistening teeth

and the curve of her lip

are merely illusions

they do not exist

 

with a sponge or a scalpel

you can scrape her away

find the women who breaking

the woman who may

 

secretly be crying

or rubbing her eyes

the woman who’s dying

just to try to survive

 

caking on makeup

and just sipping tea

spending her nest egg

so she won’t feel empty

 

deprived and degraded

she’s begging for worth

from a world that ignores her

that treats her like dirt

 

just because she’s a women

and doesn’t fit the mold

she large or she’s black

she’s disabled or old

 

her hair is too curly

her eyes have a slant

her stomach’s too bulgey

her chest is too flat

 

mentally she’s damaged

but who wouldn’t be

when your caged like a beast

in your own body