You wish you could rip that mask
off of your face
but it is glued
with an adhesive stronger
than the magnets within;
you have lost yourself
and you have lost the ones
who remembered the one
who is now gone-
they were eradicated from the world
and this
is you now.
You wanted so badly to exterminate
the imperfect
but now you miss the child within,
the fractured ribs and the crumpled heart,
you miss the lack of performance
and the flaws that you despised
because you pull and push
and try
to rub the salt out of the wound
but you still put the pomegranate juice on your lips
and you still take the pills
that were supposed to make you
one of them
and you still suppress the tears
until the sun sets
and by that time you are too exhausted
to do anything
but fade away again.