No.193: A Question for Many

How many times 
have you chickened out 
on reality?

How many times 
have you plugged your eardrums,
hoping the hum of a truth you don’t like
would muffle itself into irrelevance,
only to later find yourself 
the bloody victim 
of Ignorance’s children?

How many times
have you flip-flopped in conversation,
each time pretending 
your latest act of cowardice 
was your original position?

How many times 
have you been malicious, seething, foaming at the mouth, 
lips crusty with fluffy indignance when 
you know 
it is not them, but you
who’s been trippin’?

If life was a can of soda,
I would ask you:
how many times
have you drank the Diet Pepsi
because the real thing was too heavy? 
How many times 
have you photoshopped out 
the “Diet” 
to save face,
to hide from your own mind, and
how long 
will this magic show continue?

Cover Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash