How to Disappear (When You Were Never Here At All)
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Step one:
In front of the other.
Paste your mask.
On Instagramā
make it sing,
with a filter
or two.
Copy.
Just for good measure.
Smile with
your teeth.
Close your eyes.
Itāll be over soon.
Step two:
Look in the mirror.
Itās not you
at all.
Never really was.
But you already knew.
Deep down
somewhere.
Itās why you try
so hard.
Step three:
Remember when
you were last seenā
without the Face
book
you made up,
with mascara,
and a wide-eyed
wink.
Step four:
Itās not so hardā
youāve been disappearing since birth.
They taught you how:
āDonāt be dramatic.ā
āUse your indoor voice.ā
āDonāt take up space.ā
āBig boys donāt cry.ā
And girlsā
well, they just comply.
Step five:
Delete nothing.
No oneās reading anyway,
no matter what
your stats might say.
Or how you kid
yourselfā
youāre someone.
With an aim.
Step six:
Toss this guidebook out.
This isnāt a vanishing act.
āA Houdini trick.
Itās just a continuation.
You donāt need a manual
for that.
You were never here
to begin withā
no matter what
your gravestone
will say.
Beloved.
Sounds hollow
on stone.
But reverberates
across the empty space
you never really were.
At all.
Tik Tok.
About the Creator
River and Celia in Underland
Mad-hap shenanigans, scrawlings, art and stuff ;)
Poetry Collection, Is this All We Get?
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The Light Turns
It's Tuesday 7:13 a.m. A cold and clear November morning awaits Ray on his morning commute. Ray rubs his hands together in the front seat of his Subaru. He turns the air temperature up, but keeps the air on low until the air warms up. He looks at the backup camera screen and reverses the Subaru out of his driveway onto Trimble Road.
By John R. Godwin3 days ago in Fiction
Comments (14)
Great stuff! I feel like you and I hit some of the same notes with our entries... and I'm frankly surprised I placed better than you two. You're Absolutely Awesome to the Extreme in Every Imaginable Way!!! ā”š Billā”
Ah, I love it! Congratulations you two, you're majestic!
Fabulous!!! Congratulations on the Runner up Win!!!ā¤ļøā¤ļøš
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! šššššš
Social media steals something from our souls sometimes and really does make a part of us disappear. Congrats on Runner Up in the Challenge!
Step four, is such a sad reality, maybe it always was. But the times I watch children in the park with their parents ignoring them while their nose is glued to their phonesā¦ I am alway to see when your work gets recognized Congratulations on your placement
Wow.... the weight of this one is heavy with relatability. Well wrote, congrats on Runner-Up on the Instructions for Disappearing Challenge, C&R!!! š
A powerhouse poem!!! "Use your indoor voice" hit home, and so did "And girls- well, they just comply.' Except this girl right here got sick of it all and now just does her own thing.
Damn - this was a belter. Use your indoor voice..... Gosh. I don't think it's just social media where people are fake. I think you can often be taken in by someone who pretends to be something they're not. Heart breaking when you realize. Anyway. This was EXCELLENT.
I agree with Jason, you both nailed the social media curse
Whoaaaa, this hit me so hard, especially Step four!
Oh my. This is simply fantastic. Well done, well done, well done.
You nailed social media curse. The feelings the emotional stress and false imagery of who we really are.
ššššPainfully relatable.