The Fake - Poem

Beauty is-

Being skinny but not so skinny people call you anorexic

Being tall but not so tall that you loom over boys

A toned stomach but not so toned that you are merely reduced to the traits that make you masculine

Smiling but only if your teeth are straight

if not why bother

people will just look away

Beauty is being confident but not so confident that you love yourself

Beauty is knowing your worth but not so much that you think you are worthy of someone who appreciates you

Beauty is ugly in so many more ways than one

yet

we still try to be beautiful

we still starve ourselves

we still hide our true image

work out just the "right" amount

hate ourselves

fall for people who hate us

because the cosmopolitan told us,

that's what real beauty is.

---

I walk into the department stores

Angels displayed on the screen

“The perfect body for everybody”

“The perfect size even you can achieve”

“The diet even you can try”

“Try this 15 minutes a day and you’ll finally look normal”

Do this

Try that

Starve yourself

Pinch away the fat

Scroll through the feed

The fact that you will never have wings

Never be able to fly away from this never-ending cycle of self-deprecation disguised as a motivational post

Crying yourself to sleep and eating too much what a “relatable teen”

Your insecurities

Are exactly what these companies need

They produce this fake image off of which you feed

It’s the only food you’ll ever need.

I walk into the department store angels on the screen

And i have never felt more like an alien

Yet there is no other place for me to be

---

Fake perceptions

Fake beauty

Fake standards

(-They all seem so real when you’re told it should be your truth)

-illustration by Emily Wolfson-