Puppet Face Crooked Teeth

This puppet face barely looks real

If I glance quickly, a human appears

But if I give it attention I get pulled into the grotesque details,

Disproportionate features pinned onto a shrinking face,

The humanity pulls away

bits and pieces on display

I want to give it away

this thing, these parts hung on me in ways I have not chosen,

so I sit and morn what I have been given

This puppet face with crooked teeth

 

I walk all over the place,

Never seeing this face,

It’s all that they see,

But it isn’t me,

How can I show them, that which I see,

a beautiful soul who lives to be free,

 

I try and reconcile,

This thing

Who seems so strange and unfit

With the beauty I feel

My soul is a gift

 

It’s what I have, it’s how the world sees me, but how can this be me?

It’s not what I’ve chosen

I guess they’ll never know – this is all they’ll ever see, this puppet face, these knarly teeth.

 

WAIT –

But how do I know what they see?

 

WAIT –

I guess it’s me, who sees

My puppet face and my crooked teeth