All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
Vanity Crypt
There is a buzzing mosquito that no one has the guts to shush.
Mascara stains plague the surface of little things
Lovely when applied,
Dreadful when smeared.
I’ve come to find that when you smear a good thing the paint dries
painting a picture with former problems in a new frame
These conversations are just simmering into interrogations.
Being a girl is starting to feel like a performance that I don’t believe in.
Coming of age,
Of age to act like a painted lady and flea a dull jubilee.
The inside of a shadow box is not as spacious as you think
And being glued inside a snow globe is not all glitter
Just a tasteful pool of acetone.
Please don't tap on my fishtank.
There’s no medical diagnosis for being perceived,
I hope the world can see
That internal sentiment means more than a pretty face ever could,
And nothing can be the only everything to someone.
I’m afraid I can only guarantee a dragonfly
In all honesty, there are some forms of rhopalocera I don’t care to be
What do you think?
I’m sorry
Goodbye
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 0 comments.
This whole poem is about being perceived as a girl, and a pretty girl at that, by certain people. the references to "rhopalocera" aka a butterfly just represent how when your feel seen you feel like you need to flee. Lines 11-14 reference how being a girl can feel like you are inside of a shadowbox and it's not pleasant to me picked apart. Whenever you are seen as close to perfect people like to tear that down and find all the unpleasant things about you. Snow globes, fishtanks, and shadowboxes all share a few things; Your supposed to look at these things and it's supposed to be beautiful and see-through. Unlike ordinary things, these things usually imply depth, so you observe for deeper things. Perfection is not a real thing, and to add, the outlook of it is overrated. Nothing can be the only everything to someone. Putting yourself in the hierarchy is just tearing you apart further. The golden standard should not be measurable, especially since it changes so often. A dragonfly surpasses a butterflies beauty in it's own way, but the two should not be compared in the first place. With the line "What do you think?" it wraps everything up in a nice bow and sort of explaining how after saying all this, I still care what everyone thinks. I still wound up in this vanity crypt because I care so genuinely about what the world, and the people I hold closest, think.