Wednesday, August 19, 2015

the self as a performance to an audience, in five parts


Act I.
You are your home,
You are what you are at home,
You are what you are in your bedroom,
You are what you eat,
You are what you cook,
You are who you cook for,
You are what you took in the fridge,
You are the painting you hang in the living room,
You are the movies you watch,
You are the books you read,
You are the messages you delete after reading,
You are the magazines you browse,
You are the porn you browse,
You are the music you dance to,
You are the music you don’t listen to,
You are who you are when you don’t listen,
You are not the bangles you wear,
You are not the suits you fit,
You are not the heels you strut,
You are not Prada,
You are not Tom Ford,
You are not the thread count of your towel,
You are not the blanket that wraps your lover,
You are the sleep in your eyes at nine,
You are the glass of water by your bedside table,
You are the bottle of wine for the guests,
You are the fireplace during winter,
You are the windbreaker after spring,
You are the tight naked torso by summer,
You are what you need.

Act II.
You are your job,
You are the slides you make last night,
You are the overtime you take last night,
You are the residency you dream of in Sydney,
You are the blueprint of a two-storey house,
You are the bruise on your upper right arm,
You are the sprain in your left ankle,
You are the scars below your knees,
You are the birth control you take,
You are the idea of a girl with blond curly hair,
You are the result of a medical examination,
You are the HIV tests you regularly take,
You are the tricks you accomplish,
You are the lies that succeed,
You are the cost-cuts of higher management,
You are the opportunity you didn’t take,
You are the fortune you seek,
You are the fortune you don’t have,
You are the presidents you vote,
You are the vote,
You are the car you drive to work,
You are the calls you didn’t answer at work,
You are not what you are at work,
You are not the miles you run,
You are not the weights you lift at the gym,
You are not the strength of your grip,
You are not the curve of your ass,
You are not the girth of your cock,
You are not the heft of your breasts,
You are not what people say.

Act III.
You are your greeting in the morning,
You are your call at 2AM,
You are what happens after 8PM,
You are not the name you use on Grindr,
You are not the profile on Tindr,
You are your second and third Facebook accounts,
You are the drink you offer to a stranger at 10,
You are a stranger,
You are the stranger you take to your home,
You are the way you purse your lips,
You are the way you kiss,
You are the kiss you refuse to give,
You are what you do not do in bed,
You are the laughter you share,
You are your discussions over beer,
You are the friends you keep,
You are the friends you think you have,
You are the friends you choose,
You are the friends you use,
You are the beads of sweat at the bath house,
You are the grunt in the maze of hallways,
You are the gaze in the lobby,
You are the thrust of your hips in the dark,
You are the one-night stand,
You are what you stand for,
You are the hangover the following day,
You are the secrets you keep,
You are the family you go back to,
You are the people you miss,
You are the person you forgive.

Act IV.
You are the smile you flash to anyone,
You are the smile that twitches on one end,
You are the straight A’s in your report card,
You are the pat on the back from a colleague,
You are the certification you receive after the seminar,
You are the recommendation you write for a friend,
You are the promotion you get,
You are the bonus you receive,
You are the zeroes in your bank account
You are the game for golf late in the evening,
You are the plot of land somewhere in Mindoro,
You are the birthday party you celebrate ahead of time,
You are the superhero in red and blue tights for Halloween,
You are the heroes you look up to,
You are the gods you worship,
You are the saints you believe,
You are the myths you remember,
You are what you pray for,
You are your confessions,
You are not what you confess at 29,
You are the complaints you can’t keep to yourself,
You are the men you respect,
You are the vacation you think you deserve,
You are the sunset at the beach that warms your beer,
You are the tan-line of your swim trunks,
You are the SPF50 of your sun block,
You are the haircut you see in a fashion blog,
You are the moisturizer that costs as much as your sneakers,
You are the mascara and the lip gloss,
You are a mask.

Act V.
You are what you do,
You are what you think,
You are not who you think you are,
You are your desire,
You are your regret,
You are your guilt,
You are the voice in your head,
You are the pictures in your dreams,
You are a stroke of genius,
You are each stroke of paint you make,
You are the fiction you write,
You are the metaphor in your verse,
You are the low pitch in your voice,
You are the notes in a book you have not finished and returned,
You are what are not read between the lines,
You are the heart that is always on the line,
You are the welcome party in the airport,
You are the change of heart,
You are the change of profession in a quarter life crisis,
You are the jigsaw puzzle you complete after three months,
You are what you see in the sidewalks of EDSA,
You are what you deny to see,
You are the mistake you repeat twice,
You are taking back what you have said,
You are left alone,
You eat alone,
You sleep alone,
You are what you are alone,
You are alone,
You are better than that.

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