Pretty Faces, Ugly Places (Explained)

I have carried you

Through screams and

Through senseless commands,

While sporting a face

For commercial drug ads,

While pulled at

By wandering hands.

I smile, not slap

At the fingers that grab

Because THAT is the service

That YOU should demand.

I have fought for you,

Through taking the hits

You should take on your own,

And why wasn’t I

More careful, my cuts

Got blood on your nice

Shiny coat.

I smile, not scream,

At the changing energy

From the second I matter

To the second I don’t.

I have sacrificed for you.

My peace, the comfort

Of knowing my place

Near ailments and liars,

With a smile, I thought,

Was the shield that I needed

To keep myself safe,

But the smile was wrong,

Turns out, all along,

“Yes!” was the prettiest

Face I could make.

Quite simply, guys, this poem is about an entity that values a '“yes” person over anything else. If you agree, smiling or not, hard work or not, time and energy and effort or not, you matter. You matter for that single moment that you have agreed with the masses. The second you don’t, nothing else matters but the fact that you dare question or go against those above you. We’ve all been there. We all know it when we see it happen to those around us, but it hits differently when the swing comes our way. On the day I wrote this, it was my turn to take the swing.

Enjoy the poem.