why  
                          do you say the sky is clear  
                      when the clouds  
                                   are chewing  
                            on the sun?

          what makes you blink so fast  
                     when someone whispers  
             i’m fine  
                   like a lie  
                         wrapped in a compliment?

     is your smile stretched—  
                  or stitched?  
                            can you even feel  
                         the corners of it anymore?  

         how many rehearsals  
                         does it take  
                 before a feeling feels  
                                       real?  

                     do your hands twitch  
                        because you’re cold—  
             or because silence  
                              has teeth?  

      is there a ghost  
               in your throat  
                        or just  
             words you never learned  
                                how to carry?  

  how long  
        can you keep dodging mirrors  
                         before you forget  
                                      what a face  
                                                    even does?

          how many opinions  
                  fit in a shopping cart  
                                  at half-off?

   did you choose them?  
                        did you try them on?  
       did you like how they made  
                                  you look?  

       or did you just wear them  
                              because they were  
                                     trending?

              who taught you  
         to nod when you meant no  
                       and smile  
                              when your bones  
                       wanted to howl?

         did they say  
               it was polite  
                         to fold yourself  
               into origami  
                               that never unfolds?

     why do you ask  
                          how are you  
                   like it’s a pop quiz?  
          is the answer  
                    just another line  
                                      in your script?

      is it easier  
            to be misunderstood—  
                            than  
                        to be fully  
                                seen?

         when you speak—  
                    are you offering  
              a bridge  
                    or laying  
                a trap?

               are you listening  
           or just  
                 reloading?

what are you protecting  
                 with all that certainty?  

        do you believe what you say—  
                      or are you just  
                good at  
                          sounding  
                             like you do?

                 why do you keep  
        building fences  
             and painting them  
                          like windows?  

          do you realize  
                      how much of you  
                goes missing  
          every time  
                   you shrink yourself  
                                 to fit  
                                        inside someone else’s  
                                                                echo?

and—

          when was the last time  
                   you sat with a question  
                            and didn’t  
                     rip it open  
                          like it owed you  
                                       a map?

       what if—

                      the point  
                              was never  
                      to find  
                                 answers  

                             but to become  
                                           a better  
                                                   question?