Seeing Forward

They say that eyes are windows to the soul,

but who can ‘they’ even be 

when ‘they’ can’t even see me.

I’ve always had thin eyes,

and I don’t mind it,

but I’ve often been 

asked if I’m Asian,

 and most times I

say no, but sometimes

I say yes, even though I’m not,

just to see what happens,

like does it really

impact how they see me,

or is it just another

detail, to be thought about

when they’re bored with

whatever they’re doing,

even if it’s something more

than mildly interesting, 

such as looking through a telescope

at the stars that twinkle back

in no particular order,

beckoning eyes

to see

what lies beyond

vision unknown.

But how could ‘they’ ever 

know what I can’t see

if its never been there.

The first part of the face that I learned to draw

was a single eye, 

and it soon began to litter

my notebooks, 

I’d see them staring back,

like a worn-out doll that had one 

faded replacement eye 

to haunt me in my sleep,

soon the eyes had faces

that would stare generically 

with no expression,

just simple glares that

were simple and nothing more

because that’s how I made them.