Synthetic Smiles

Why is it that you tell me to be myself?

I see it everywhere from slogans to books on shelves

I can’t help but wonder why you expect me to delve

Into the deepest part of me and be that thing

Do that thing

Find that part of me that makes life worth living

Why do you want my soul to sting?

Since time has changed

Parents friends and teachers

Tell kids to stop blending into the bleachers

All they want to do is be part of backdrop

But I can’t seem to figure out why authority won’t stop

It’s like a constant ticking clock

They say the same words over and over

They tell me I’m a four leaf clover

But all I hear are words

I see no action

All I see is myself as their distraction

It’s easy to tell others how to live life and be

Especially when you yourself are not free

You are trapped in a cage biting your hand so often

You forget how to eat and now you’re living in a coffin

Called a cubical

With a motivational quote on your desk calling you beautiful

You don’t believe it so you go home and sell it to your kids

Like a discount comic book

And they eat it up until they stop believing it too

That’s the thing about telling people to be themselves

It’s only a cup of synthetic words pouring from a thousand artificial mouths

Is it really real?

The answer is no

How can it be real when all you see is go

Go Go

People going to meetings

People rushing to stations

People living on caffeine

People running to races

They’re like prisoners crawling around trying to do everything well

But getting shackled the moment they leave the cell

These people are not living they’re creating a hell

Their cracked lips are lying as they tell me

“Always be yourself”