Eyeliner for the Quiet One

Location

This curtain is one of

Carefully painted black lines

Swiped across eyelids.

This curtain is one of

Carefully handled curls

Dried in the wind out the car window.

This curtain is one of

Carefully chosen clothes

Picked painstakingly so.

 

On the outside,

I am funny.

On the outside,

I don’t make a fuss,

Because other people

Do enough of that.

On the outside,

I am cordial, and polite.

On the outside,

I am pretty.

 

On the inside,

I am not so composed.

On the inside,
I scream sometimes

Because other people

Will

Not

Shut up.

On the inside,

My middle finger

Is almost always up

Because on the inside

I do not tolerate

Nonsense.

On the inside,

My hair is not done,

My face is clean,

And my clothes

Are finally,

Finally,

Comfortable.

 

I do not know why

I do these things to myself.

I do not know why

I force myself to be

The way that people think I am.

There is nothing wrong

With what’s behind the curtain.

Sometimes, I prefer

The behind the scenes me

That is natural, and opinionated

And loud,

To the highlight reel me,

That is made up and avoids problems

And is chokingly quiet. 

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