Crack A Smile

Lick your lips

taste the plastic of your smile

take a breath

smell the sanitation of your skin

knock your head

hear the hollow echoes of your shell

But don’t fucking worry

you aren’t alone

we’re all in this together,

we’re all just masks running blind

set to default.

 

Cut off from ourselves

just empty constructions to others’ stories

I’ll be tagged in your photo

You’ll be tagged in mine,

I’ll like your picture

but only if you’ll like mine

No longer are we voices

Just nails tapping on keyboards

Fingers on screens

 

But don’t fucking worry

you aren’t alone

we’re all in this together,

we’re all just masks running blind

set to default.

 

But if we’re all just characters

for other people’s stories

Who even has their own?

Who gets to read the stories?

Who holds the pen?

 

But don’t fucking worry

you aren’t alone

we’re all in this together,

we’re all just masks running blind

set to default.

 

Crack a smile.

Literally.

Hear the minute tears it makes

in the cover you’ve created

 

Let a tear drip

like a water-drop sliding on cool glass

down the smooth surface of your face

watch it smudge the paint

you plastered on this morning.

 

Let me join in,

let’s walk through a downpour

and flood the streets with years of paint.

Give me a chisel

let’s deepen the ridges

make oceans out of puddles

replace satellites with stars.

Let’s just see

Who we could be

 

[Kirsty Campbell]

Image credit: Nour El-Issa