Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
Anyone can see
it doesn't fit you
Your discomfort hangs on you
like the heavy, dark wool
that scratches your fragile boy skin
makes you itch
leaves scars
Please take it off
before you forget
how to undo the buttons of the starched shirt
untie the tie that chokes you
until you have no life left
Why are you wearing that ridiculous grin?
Anyone can see
it clashes with your eyes
so full of hurt and anger
It's not easy having a good time
Even smiling makes [your] face ache
You try so hard
You've almost convinced yourself
Please take it off
before the mask adheres
and you disappear.
submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Out of Standard with Izy (movie dialog)
The italicized lines are from movie dialog, the first from Donnie Darko and the second from Rocky Horror Picture Show, two of my all-time favorite movies
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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen
8 comments:
ha. ugh on the man suit...i avoid them like the plague...those ties will kill you, just saying...smiles...and i know masks all too well and losing yourself to the image you create..almost convinced yourself is a scary line to me...
This is excellent both as a poem and as the ultimate put down.. for the kind of self-important man who thinks he is anything other than a boy. But the second stanza questions the stereotype - and shows that much bravado is to cover up insecurity. Very interesting subject, LM.
Well done, Ms Mouse. I was also thinking of it as a put-down, as Kerry said.
K
I read this not as a literal suit but as something more than that. Either can be absolutely stifling.
So many levels here~ I love both of those movies, too!
Yes those ties will kill you~
Brilliant Miss Mouse!
Powerful piece...both the first stanza and the second say talk to me about someone "putting on" something that isn't really them...there's a lot of pain in this.
I would have never thought to mix Rocky with Donnie, but you did so to a brilliant degree! Thank for participating and viva la!
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