Poem #7

Social Anxiety

--Oh, your hair is so long!

Yeah...?

--I'm so jealous. My hair doesn't grow like that!

You are joking... right? I can't tell.

--I had hair like that when I was fourteen (sigh).

You, who enjoy meeting new people

and can finish a conversation without feeling emotionally exhausted.

--I tried making my daughter keep her hair, but she chopped it all off!

You, a black-belt-red-stripe in the art of small talk

a human who puts other humans at ease.

--My hair is just so thin, it doesn't get that long!

You, the sort who revels in social gatherings

instead of please can we just go home I don't want to be here at all.

--Doesn't all that hair get in your way? It isn't very safe.

You, the kind who goes to interviews and dates excited and hopeful

not the person who sweats the whole time and throws up afterwards.

--You would look so nice if you just put your hair up.

You, who enjoy eating in public with others looking at you

instead of going scarfing down food in the privacy of your car.

--There are people who need hair, you know. You should donate that.

You: confident, self-reliant, secure, bold, upbeat

How can it be

you envy filaments of spent, lifeless cells

clinging limply to my scalp?

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