Poem:Evangelism

damaged in a way you don’t notice until you get too close
is how I would describe us
all chin and bravado, and of course that intoxicating, heady, manufactured success

which we seem too able to balance
with a mushy sort of underbelly that we wish wasn’t there--
and desperately try to camouflage.
yet it does come out from time to time
when it best suits us or distracts another…

“it takes one to know one,” you once told me
all cocky and critical and drunk
and I started to protest, push back
until I stopped
suddenly still

and realized that no matter how much we pretended otherwise
there was no way around this--
no way through the cycle of turbulance and nuance and disappointment.

but this I do know:
we can certainly hide and consider that an achievement.
I don’t want you to worry though: I bounce back quicker than most.