The expression/impression
unbearable imprint
and the burdensome mask
totality.
A lineage of arabesques -
tired ancestry
staged, practiced,
love rehearsed
for safety’s sake.
Point, pirouette
and be just so
for you are being observed.
Like yours
her brain has four walls
made of stories.
Like you, she’s never enough.
Because all the world’s a stage
and the curtain never closes
on your smartphone.
The tiresome choreography of being seen
get the lighting on your life just right.
Show your good side
count your likes
and dance, dancer
dance.
Now while you have the stage
quickly, before they change the tune
electronic approval lingers
like a low hum in your cerebrum.
Like you, she’s afraid of the director
scared she won’t make the cut.
Look, but not too close
not at the unbearable things
just offstage.
Dance dancer, dance
let them hear the invulnerable tune
you’ve been practicing in the mirror
deleting selfie after selfie
the dancer keeps trying
the director doesn’t see
the audience is invisible
it’s all about mememememememeMEMEMEME.
She watches
like her
we are being observed.