All of Them

Can’t walk, can’t speak

Can’t look, can’t think

Papers shuffling, pens clicking, clocks ticking

Heads down, don’t make a sound

Faces of clowns surround you

They all look the same

Camouflage shirts, Nike socks, Birkenstocks

Instagram obsessed, Tiktok possessed, but hey would you look at that dress?

Clack your nails, smack your lips, pack your bags

Buzz, buzz, buzz

Better choke that notification before it floats away

Red noses honk in these halls

New situationships, look at her eating soggy leftovers,

Isn’t that something to show off? 

Friendzone after friendzone because they crave attention 

Use enough setting spray to keep the cement in place

Paste on a pretty face, there's so much empty space up there

“Boys are just easier to be friends with,” they all told me. 

Years pass, makeup melts with age, the clowns are no longer perfect,

There they lay in a ditch, once beautiful, except,

That was all they ever were.

Villainize her, burn her at the stake, take as many stabs as you’d like

Do you think a 5 year old understands the discrimination, the cruelty, the hatred people spew

They are snakes full of venom, with hearts made of tar

Rumors, gossip, lies, use the ammunition 

Pretend, pretend, pretend that time doesn’t scare you

Fearful cowards slink behind a screen to write paragraphs

Yellow eyes narrowing when you dare to fight back

The clowns, the snakes, the rats

Gather round to pick apart your carefully curated act

I am told I am too abstract, 

That I am not concrete enough

I will be obvious, painfully so,

These walls have suffocated me, people have destroyed me, yet they will never leave this town

I still stand in the very place I arrived, but I will leave

Tap, tap, tap, he’s calling

The ball and chain in our pockets.