Screens

You walk on stage and then you shine,

You speak one word and then they cheer,

You move one inch and then they swoon.

You see yourself and then you smile;

I see you wave and laugh and dance;

You’re perfect.

I see myself yet it’s different--

I see myself yet it’s not you;

I lack in beauty, I lack in charms.

I want to be like you,

To walk and then they swoon,

To talk and then they cheer.

My insecurities are undoings

And yet here I am staring into you--

Staring into a screen.

Here I am, entrapped by a screen,

A screen showing your beauty; 

A screen with my un-beauty

Screens— what a funny name!

How they trap and trick me,

How they hold and bind me.

Screens— things that made me

Know you, yet still

You won’t know who I am.

Screens— things supposed to connect us,

Yet why do we still

feel lonely when we stare

Into the screen? the thing supposed 

To heal our wounds, the thing supposed

To make us one. These

Screens— the things that breeds

Jealousy, like mine to you, the thing that makes

Insecurities shine brighter than confidence

Perhaps this screen is my enemy

Perhaps it breeds my jealousy

Perhaps it’s my insecurity

But who knows? 

Screens trick me constantly 

They scream— yet still

I listen unwillingly