*****

Recorded Reading (1:31): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/v3ti53vdjv3jn3yi1zfgz/A-Real-Smile.mp3?rlkey=ki8ffhgl01sk1jq52a4ayburm&dl=0

*****

A Real Smile

You think me vastly impolite
If I don’t manifest delight
Seeking power to beguile
With an artificial smile

Followed immediately after
By shrill imitative laughter
Such as many willing give
To improve the way they live

Grinning in the face of fear
Willing osculate your rear —
That is much, much more than I
Willing am to do, my dear

Go ahead and eager take
Satisfaction from the fake
Desperate contortions of
Those who will counterfeit love

Suck it up, enjoy it well
Since you cannot the difference tell ~
Same old ignorant delusion
As makes success of prostitution

I express just what I feel
Smile only when that smile is real
Somewhere else your craving take
For appeasement, shrill and fake

When to honesty you win
That is when you will begin
Craving something wholesome
Authentic and genuine

When the truth at last you see
When in truth at last you be
When in truth we can agree
Look for a real smile from me

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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