Perfection

This is a poem I wrote called perfection. It is about how not everything is what it seems, especially what meets the eye.

Perfection

Bright sun shines down on sparkling green lawns

Pristine white houses sit upon the shimmering grass

All in a row like a set of newly whitened teeth

It’s sunny suburbia.

Where everything is perfect.

If only you could take a peek inside the wide windows

Move aside the always closed curtains and see the “perfection” that is happening inside

You might see thirteen-year old Sabrina

Take two bites of her food, and then excuse herself to the bathroom,

Finger eager to enter her moth

You might see nineteen year-old Chad

In the basement, rolled up dollar bill pressed up against his nose,

Trying to get the very last bit of his fix

While his mother is upstairs, looking at pictures of her newly deceased husband

Whose habits were passed on to his son

You might see forty year-old Carla

Putting pressed powder over a bruise by her eye

But she only banged her eye by falling against the coffee table

At least that’s what she tells her co-workers

You might see sixteen year-old Paul

Covering the ears of his eleven year-old sister

As his parents scream at each other from the next room over

You might see fifteen year-old Kayla

Holding the only thing that’s been positive to her all year

A pregnancy test.

Eighteen year-old Tim just left her house an hour before, zippering his fly, satisfied.

Or you might see seventeen year-old Michelle,

In her Burberry scarf, Louboutin heels, doused in Chanel no. 9 perfume

Crying, loud sobs, into her pillow

That pillow has now become accustomed to her tears. It is an everyday ritual.

The doors open to the homes.

Sabrina, chewing a piece of gum,

Heads to ballet class

Chad, non-stop moving, calls his dealer to see when he can meet up that night for his next fix, and then his unassuming girlfriend to see if he can come over later

Carla waves to a neighbor, heels clacking on the pavement

She escapes to work

Paul and his sister take the dog out, as his sister wipes away tears

And he holds them back

Kayla walks to the garbage can, and throws the pregnancy test away

It never happened.

And Michelle gets in her BMW, daddy’s credit card in hand

She reapplies her mascara

Bright sun shines down on the sparkling green lawns

Pristine white house’s sit upon the shimmering grass

All in a row like a set of newly whitened teeth

It’s sunny suburbia, where everything is perfect.

Right?

Author's Note

Thank you for reading! This was one of the first poems I wrote. I appreciate all feedback and would love to read some of your writing.