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Behind the mask

By jfarrell

In this heat….

I just can’t stop it;

The stupid fixed smile, the deadpan eyes

The mask melts

Like waxworks in a furnace

My clearly defined face - eyes, nose, mouth -

All melt, dissolve

Into a nothingness, a blankness;

No eyes, no smile;

A mask with no face

I wipe myself with a towel;

My eyes are so alive, so hungry

So predatory

I hardly recognise them as mine

Stupid fixed smile?

A shark grins back excitedly

Having just seen lunch

But, in this heat….

It just melts

Another mask destroyed:

My eyes?

Black holes of despair that consume everything;

My smile?

Blackened, chipped and broken ugly teeth

A smile, terrifying in it’s grossness

If I could

I’d choose the Brad Pitt or George Clooney masks

Instead of the monsters inside of me

Always wearing their masks