#appearance
The light is changing,
and with it, my face changes --
Do I look like me?
Apr 23
Apr 23, 2026 at 4:25 AM UTC
sometimes I stare at my face for so long
that it looks like clay
maybe it's the caked on makeup
maybe it's my nose sticking out between my sunken eyes
maybe it's the desire to mold it into something new
when I was told to get creative
I didn't know it meant to use the clay on the table
not the clay covering the mirror
but sometimes, I stare at it for so long
that the clay starts to sparkle
and my eyes read the creator of the sculpture
and all it says is love
because every piece of clay
and every face
is moulded by love
Apr 8
Apr 8, 2026 at 5:20 PM UTC
I strip the hours bare,
unclothed of bread, of sweetness,
leaving only the pulse of hunger to keep me company.
The body resists—
it bargains, it pleads—
yet I refuse its theater of need.
What I shed is not only flesh,
but the gravity of years
that pressed me into shapes I did not choose.
Appearance is a fickle mirror,
yet effort—
effort is a blade.
It cuts away the veil,
exposes the raw scaffolding of discipline,
the scaffold on which I rebuild myself.
I do not chase beauty.
I chase silence—
a silence where appetite bends,
where control is sharper than desire.
And when the fast has passed,
I emerge—not lighter only in form,
but steadier in the knowledge
that absence itself
can be a kind of creation.
Aug 28, 2025
Aug 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM UTC
"Don’t judge a book by its cover."
Sorry,
but let’s be honest—
a beautiful cover
draws attention.
And your cover?
Does it draw attention?
Looking at your cover,
would I know the story you tell?
The food you love?
What you’d buy?
What you’d wear?
Who you’ve lost
or who you’re searching for?
Who would be your publisher?
Who would be your author?
Do you even like your cover?
Would you be at the bookstore entrance,
or lost among the shelves,
hidden between so many other covers,
passing unnoticed?
Aug 29, 2025
Aug 29, 2025 at 12:34 PM UTC
A shatter of glitter
Breaks over her eyes
When she looks in the mirror:
Swathes of pink
Speckled by silver circles
Matched by the anxious glittering
Of the waterfall
That is her earrings.
It's her last glance
To hold the spectre
Of herself
Until she explodes
With the other girls;
Prim and dainty.
Jul 9, 2025
Jul 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM UTC
Is it my fault
That I look at someone
And feel repulsed
By the way their
Body flows?
That I can’t look at anyone
And not rip
And pick apart
Every little flaw they have;
A crooked smile,
Lopsided eyes,
A tilted nose,
Hairy limbs,
Flaky skin,
Tilted lips,
An asymmetrical face,
A too-big forehead,
Puffy cheeks,
A bloated stomach,
Humongous thighs,
Giant arms,
A wide frame,
Bushy eyebrows,
Monkey ears,
Uneven feet,
Messed up hands,
A normality in a flawed creation
Yet it’s all that catches my eyes
When I look at
People in the lifts,
In the shops,
On the street,
In the corridors,
In a home,
In a room,
In the mirror.
“Wrong! Wrong!” My brain screams
In terror
It’s right, I suppose,
That monster in the reflection must be
The consequences of an
Error.
Apr 18, 2025
Apr 18, 2025 at 7:43 AM UTC
I get it a lot of the time.
my eyes are blue.
as pale as the sea,
woken far from beyond.
piercing deep within my soul
I am stuck in time travel
paused every minute
questioned every second
admired as the daisy blooms
glared while chasing the bus.
My eyes weep,
like everybody else.
I am human not some creature
stared upon.
shimmering and glittering
it flows as brightly as
sun reflection on water.
My eyes rest,
uncertain for a new day ahead.
Apr 10, 2025
Apr 10, 2025 at 5:22 AM UTC
_The hardships of a man are his silent battles –
“you ought to open up more,” which opens
his worth to being diminished._
We only cry when the world is asleep, painting
smiles on our faces to render our outer walls
somewhat pleasing to your gaze.
We fight private wars, striving to shield those
we love from the fallout – yet the scars we bear
are somehow unsightly in your view.
We’ll conform to your contradictions, offering
our utmost to project an image of strength for
the women, while our brothers are the only ones
who truly understand our weaknesses.
_The hardships of a man are his silent battles –
and it is only his fellow men who can truly
witness their tears._
Mar 21, 2025
Mar 21, 2025 at 6:38 PM UTC
My reflection
stares back at me
Water feels how
Soap tastes in my mouth,
Like a pile of worms
in my ears
My reflection ripples
in the surface
Of the clear liquid
My features warp like
A portal
Wrinkled fabric on a table
It feels like my face is
really twisting
Into this broken
deformed
mutated
Monster.
I hate that image
God, I wish it’d
disappear
for once
Mar 14, 2025
Mar 14, 2025 at 12:24 AM UTC
What does Snow White see,
When she looks in the mirror?
Does she like what she sees, freely?
Or does she, like me, look
With dismay, and say,
"Oh, my skin is not as white,
As yesterday, I won't go out and play
Today, I will stay in and away,
Because people will say 'she's not so fair'."
It's not fair that weight of expectation,
and the wait for ultimate perfection.
Nov 23, 2024
Nov 23, 2024 at 7:20 PM UTC
Spotlights, reflected
off the gold celebrity:
image on image.
Mar 10, 2023
Mar 10, 2023 at 3:51 AM UTC
Let me say that things are strange,
I am a strange man in a strange world.
I am barely here,
A Wraith
Seen only in reflection
Moving in shadows
Seldom acknowledged
Yet sentient.
Are you there? Can you hear me?
My invisible form wishes to be seen.
My existence justified only by function.
"Love me...
Like me...
Hear me..."
I say without sound.
How can I manifest in this world?
Dec 2, 2022
Dec 2, 2022 at 6:32 AM UTC
a flat white cools
far too quickly
for prolonged enjoyment
steaming the window
above the table
where it rests
next to it
my latest trial
of literature
at times
lengthy of word
ponderous
but probing
while others
lesser
in page number
though not
in meaning
brief yet pointed
but always
formidable enough
in name
or title
to impress
a wandering eye
Nov 10, 2022
Nov 10, 2022 at 11:27 AM UTC
Each pound gained
my stake in 'pretty' waned
in societies tiny frame
of what's pretty
and what is shamed.
Jul 14, 2022
Jul 14, 2022 at 2:23 AM UTC
You see her walking through the halls,
You don't see how she put up her walls.
If you see her at home in her room,
You can see the cuts that begin to bloom.
She's good at putting up the public smile,
You'd never understand why she goes through the trial.
She seems to always be with the stars,
But that's only because you've never seen the scars.
Mar 31, 2021
Mar 31, 2021 at 3:05 PM UTC
The greatest enemy is the enemy within
The most evil is one most believed as God
The Shepherd sacrificed sheep, and sheep cheered
How can anything not be what it seems
How can I mean other than what I said
How can eyes see soul, when there is none
An apple can be nothing but an apple
A patriot hugs the flag, a christian waves the bible
And the loser, unarmed, accursed, hangs from a tree
In robes of peace, prosperity and power, reigns evil
In dispersion, despair and death, are its enemies
In friends with cleaned feet are traitorous deceivers
Sep 2, 2020
Sep 2, 2020 at 12:10 AM UTC
Wearing such an appearance as gentle thoughts is an illusion!
Wearing it for fun is the slow delusion creeping up on you.
Gentle thoughts may be fake... B-but at least I have my own dignity to outshine my true self as my truer appearance!
PS... Gentle thoughts
Jul 19, 2020
Jul 19, 2020 at 4:01 AM UTC