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.