Modeled After “Cut While Shaving” by Bukowski

Faces

It’s never quite right, she said,
The way people judge,
the way they are two-faced,
Bright smiles for your face,
Nasty words behind your back

It’s never quite right when the stars don’t shine,
when you are stuck behind a swath of clouds,
when the only sight you can see is the nose in front of your face

It’s never quite right, she said,
to take the easy road of lying,
to be a spy, to blurt and feed lies on either side of your tongue,
to be the unreal you

I walked away from the mirror
onto the icy streets,
Faces everywhere,
too afraid to look at my own.