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Jellyfish Jan 2024
I'm not here to judge your perspective
We were in the same place but our childhoods were different
We saw and felt different things
It's not a bad word, it's the way we perceived and lived through everything

We may have been in the same places,
but couldn't see through each other's faces.
We both had our bad experiences
and found ways to get through them

It's been so hard for me to let go
but after we spoke I think I finally know,
I can't do the work for you,
You have to want to evolve for you.

I can't tell you every story I have
and believe you'll understand where I stand or where I've stood,
You have your own desk where you'll write your book
Although it hurt, because I had so much hope.

You preached so much to me about how we should be close-
You told me how you wished for a relationship to grow,
You said I never shared, never asked and never cared.
I feel like I tried so much but your words make me feel unaware.

It hurt when you told me I hide,
Probably because there's some truth to it,
that hurt me deeply inside.
I have masked around our family for as long as I can remember.

I learned so early that I wasn't what was wanted
I was only loved when I went along and nodded
I always agreed, except for when I couldn't
I'd say no to things to avoid the acting

I hated that I had to be a certain way
To stay free of your judgement
I couldn't wear the shoes I wanted,
or play the songs I liked in the car without hearing your homophobic comments

Having to become every expectation
It is how I have lived for so long
I'm so burnt out now
and I finally don't have to be strong.

I went along with it to avoid the uncomfortable feelings I had,
Every time I would have to be around you
I put up with things I should've never had to.
I'm talking about your husband putting your cat on my face when I was asleep and he knew I was allergic.

The more I reflect, the more I see it
Everything you've projected on me
To avoid your own feelings
The clothes, the music, the comments, the expectation of who you wanted me to be-

I'm sorry you feel like you can't keep growing
Now that you're older and have your own family
It must be so painful to be stagnant
When you want to fly with sunflowers

I hate that I make you feel negatively
and there's nothing I can say to help you
I tried the hardest I could to be honest
and because I did my best, I am now free of my mask of burdens
Every time I'm asked to play guitar or wear a certain outfit, eat different foods, be any kind of different I immediately feel drained because of these experiences that come to my mind.
Jeremy Betts Dec 2023
I cry in the rain to maintain a particular mask, ensuring a path through this insane subclass
...I often ask, just how long does a generic smile last...
I cry in the shower to cover the inner lies power to destroy a future with a forgotten past
...can't fault the falling sand of even the most generic hourglass...
I choke on this lump in my throat, a radically ******, cringe worthy mass
...a bottomless bottom, a conundrum of a problem, an endless crevasse, I'm falling fast...
Corroded by the entanglement of lost days, the wrath of memories that didn't last and emotions that won't pass
...I am the match...I am the gass...

©2023
Hollow Steve Nov 2023
Pelted by winds grace,
shifted by the melody,
I'm meloncholy

Hoisted up in the air,
this feeling to hang,
there is where I lay

Someplace far,
someplace unseen,
maybe that'll feel alright

Bit by bit,
piece by piece,
to be put together
just to fall apart

Placed in hand,
this rhythm keeps me sane,
am I to blame?

Split down the middle,
ripped apart in the end,
stitched together my madness

Complacent,
yet unstable,
I'll wear the mask that follows
Rosie Oct 2023
Just let the pain fall off your back
Pretend it doesn't make you crack

Hide from it

Run from it

Don't let it find you

More problems are sure to come
if you let yourself succumb

But even if you do
let the pain slip through

Keep that mask securely attached
to hide the bruises from being attacked
I'll never reveal how I truly feel.
Patrick Nov 2022
For rainy days that last a lifetime..
I thought this mask was mine.
The voice that spoke,
So cold and thickly slow,
A defense against the world I know,
A trick so deep,
I myself deceive,
Until you show me
You lifted my burdens,
You shouldered my strife,
And from beneath it came a cry.
The inner voice that spoke white truth,
The one being suffocated since my youth.
The inner voice that screams out love for you...
To be read first top to bottom, then bottom to top
sofolo Aug 2022
To be knelt in a shower
Watching crimson mix with water
Some good ol’ fashioned
Pain drain

Bloodletting
How delicious

What is it about a cleansing ritual
That brings
Soot to surface

It’s scar tissue
Meets fresh wounds
Amidst the carnage
A kernel of truth

Cartography
How scrumptious

What is it about toweling off
That removes
Less than we thought

It’s whispered words
Meets silent screams
All this chaos
What does it mean

Decryption
How cathartic

What is it about slipping into jeans
That tucks away the secrets
Folds up the mental maps
Slurps the blood from the floor
And masks us up
For the world to adore

///

“How was your weekend?”

(wait, what’s my line?)

Plasma
A flushed cheek
“Oh…it was fine”
smiles

Merely existing
How divine

///
this may be interpreted by each reader according to their own experience. for me, personally, this is referring to an emotional form of bloodletting (read: not self-harm).
Jack Jun 2022
Same wind, but in a different solitude
The petals of flame still withers
the previous battle wound still burn,
as soul of ****** seeks divine conviction,
Remain unforgiven,
Judgement for the judge,
May the last words remain to the end as a remedy for lost symphonies.
calm ocean with raging wave remain hidden,
remind me the beauty of sunset,
as I'm still alive and breathe,
for the past drift to the faraway island,
show me humanity can be save,
without mask and hidden daggers,
maybe one day,
we able to enjoy morning breeze,
without worry what's waiting in the mist.
Anitha Panicker Jun 2022
I opened the window
                  to my soul today,
      No entrance fee needed,
No membership of any sort,
Just come in with your mask on
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