Lost in the Flock

Lost in the flock,

Polling the others,

“Why can’t we see?”

Realizing the masks

That we had donned

Kept us from looking deep

Into others and into ourselves,

And kept us from being seen,

I tried to convince a few of them

To take their masks off with me.

On the count of three,

We were all going to do it.

We all took baited breaths.

The count began:

One….two….two and a half…

Two and three quarters…

Two and five sixths…

Two and seven eighths—

And so I just went ahead and took mine off,

But no one else did.

I stood completely naked before them all,

Baring my beautiful curves and muscles,

As well as my imperfections—stretch marks and cellulite,

But they couldn’t see me.

Their masks were still on,

And I couldn’t really see them.

So I turned to leave the herd,

I could still hear them counting:

Two and nine tenths…

Two and eleven twelfths…

Two and fifteen sixteenths…

-jenn long