Curtain Call
This isn’t a repeat of “Last January”
This is Death in June
A six-year sentence punctuated by a blood-red dot
And the rips in your tights where the flesh pokes through
Because you’ve gotten so
Used to wearing costumes
They’ve started to replace your skin
Cut and sewn, formed and molded
Every detail designed to replicate perfection
And were you lying next to mе
While you were lying nеxt to me--
Whispering rehearsed sweet nothings
Through your photogenic teeth?

What’s a disguise
But a lie for your body?
What’s your body
But a collection of lies?
I went home with nothing more than
A set of stray hairs stuck to my chest
Every single one a different color
You played the part of a person
Who longed for something more than
Someone to reach up her hand-sewn skirt
And you pulled me in closer
With plagiarized body language
Promises never meant to keep
Made with bedroom eyes in love-stained sheets

I’ve seen you more naked than nude
I have peeled back your skin
And though you bare it all for the cameras
There’s still something hidden behind the curtains
If my flesh were stretched over someone as ugly inside as you
I’d hide too