Once upon a time…
Let’s say on a Sunday afternoon.
I decide to go back home.
The air is dry
and my knees are weak.
I fear more than anything if they’ll finally see me.
Behind the mask, besides the clothes,
will I only ever be the creature unknown…
Dark in nature.
Just a stranger.
Standing in the street, frozen and oblique.
Am I just in the way?
Will it ever be explained,
examined, and exclaimed,
the truths that lie behind your screens,
the faces you ignore because they’re too discreet,
the colors that you wear because you’re so unique.
It’s surely just a show.
And I would only know,
since I’m the one who lives between the lines of what hides inside
and what dares to discover the critters outside.
Can this be normalcy,
sitting at a table where the polarities meet?
Or shall I be shamed for not sharing,
for not caring, for not mimicking the behaviors of those who smile in green.
I guess I’ll find out once I get home.
Text by Ciana Mai
Photos by Drake Sweeney