artificial grin
impeccable garments
barbs and strings
daily audition
am i real?
clipped on my skin
the feeling of
pins and needles
intensifies
my thoughts swaying
pausing for the applause
i’m just a small puppet in your hands
my body, in your control
a twiddle and a tease
pacifying your demands
swivel, and i jump
flip, and i leap
a violent thrash
you let me trip
so many have held me
stolen me, pulled me
abused me, and made me
who i am
but i’m just an ambivalent marionette
fiddling between myself
and the “real” woman inside me.