We all start with blank faces.
Ebony or
Ivory or
Olive or
Anything in between.
Skin so dark they don't sell the shade at Sephora.
Skin so light you've got to mix the color with white to make it match.
Whatever the color, it's all the same skin.

We all start with blank faces
Made of cells and covered in blemishes
Stretched thin across our cheekbones
Or hanging loose and wrinkled with age,
With lines on our foreheads like
Punishment
for laughing too much.
When did laughter become such a grievous crime?

We all start with blank faces.
… and then we become Van Gogh.
With expert brush strokes, we paint.
We coat ourselves with thick layers of pastey goop like Elmer's glue
Paint it on thick to cover our blemishes and red spots
We top it off with pigment like powdered sugar on sweets
Not knowing that the more opaque our makeup is, the more transparent.

We all start with blank faces.
… and then we become sculptors
Contouring and contorting to conform to unrealistic standards.
We highlight our best features and conceal the rest.
We conceal the redness of our cheeks just to paint it on again with blush.
We paint wings on our eyes although we'll never fly.

We all start with blank faces.
… and then we become victims of consumerism
Spending our money on different shades of the same **** thing
They raise the prices because they know they'll sell it to us anyway
They force it upon us, then shame us for becoming slaves to it
We are the victims and the perpetrators.

We all start with blank faces
… and then we become artists
… and then we become victims
… and then we become warriors

**This is our war paint.

I had a dream about loving you
And in that dream you loved me too
I knew it was a dream and that's how I knew
'Cause you loving me would be a dream come true

If I was a monster,
I'd be a hideous, roaring beast
who would take on the world
for the life of a seed

If I was a monster
I'd have swirling black eyes
that would be windows to my soul
but you'd never get close enough to see

If I was a monster
I'd have a heart of diamond
Buried in veins of coal
Hidden within the matted fur
and broken wings
My dreams of tomorrow
smashed in pieces
on the floor of my cave

There is always that one person
Who makes a difference in your life
He might not be of existence in your life now
But he is out there somewhere
I know that one person in my life
And that is my brother
He dives with me through thick and thin
He gives me both shoulders to cry on
He is the epitome of a loving brother
He takes care of me when I'm sick
He is the teddy bear I hang on to
In rough times
He is the rock that shields me from the storm
He is the algae that protects me from weathering
I have never loved anyone else
The way I love him
It is pretty much hard for me
To love someone more than my brother
I love my brother so much
That I guard him with jealousy

There was a boy
(There is always a boy)
who couldn't sleep alone
because he smoked at night
and needed someone there
to make sure he put the cigarette out.
He needed someone
with him at all times
to make sure
he didnt wake up on fire

Your blood is killing you.
You are slowly being poisoned
being betrayed
by your own body.
You laugh,
as they take away 1/10 of your blood.
You laugh,
because one day your blood
will set off metal detectors.
You laugh,
so we are not scared.
I will not be as brave as you.
I will cry and be so scared
when they take away 1/10 of my blood
as often as they can
so my blood doesn't betray me.
I hope though,
that one day
I can be strong enough to laugh
so my daughter isn't scared
when they have to take
1/10th of her traitor blood

Some things don't really change.
Not for me. They don't.

I think it's the change of the seasons
I don't have to do anything
God please help me, help me
Why can't I just be

It's like I'm waiting to be myself again
Like I'm not ready yet,
Like Im clay already molded,
But sitting in the oven baking,
Still a little soft
Not ready to face the world yet
I know who I am,
I know who the girl inside is
Maybe you vaguely remember her
From long ago, it's been so long
She's coming back
You just can't see her yet
Trust me, you just can't see her yet