i say, “It’s loud,” but what I mean is, “I’m scared”

everyone here’s a mess of unknown reactions

question marks in fashion

I don’t know what I’ll get, what to expect

emotional roulette, lips drawn like threats

i circle the room like a plot with no arc

dodging connection in case it might

leave a mark and god knows...

I already feel too much.

i pout along in existential tension

disassociated strut like I need intervention

dodge intention,

feign emotion with practiced inflection

i'll be a stranger

and you be the danger

(a not so friendly reminder)

that you could never change her

(and what you thought was major)

was just the remainder

(full fears and faint failures)

quietly destructive behaviors

smiling is a learned response,

and I’m an excellent student of pretense.

i wasn’t made for stability—

i break ugly and give in too easy.

the lights are low, but my doubts are loud,

i vanish politely inside the crowd.

dressed so pretty to feel so vague

charmed by the ache of my own malaise.

i pout along in existential tension

disassociated strut like I need intervention

dodge intention,

feign emotion with practiced inflection

i'll be a stranger

and you be the danger

(a not so friendly reminder)

that you could never change her

(and what you thought was major)

was just the remainder

(full fears and faint failures)

quietly destructive behaviors

a kiss is a gamble, a handshake’s a dare

your lovers are poison, your friends never care

a kiss is a gamble, a handshake’s a dare

your lovers are poison, your friends never care

everyone's stranger

everyone's danger

everyone's stranger

everyone's danger