PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 04: Singer Avril Lavigne attends Q102?s Jingle Ball 2013 presented by Bernie Robbins Jewelers, at Wells Fargo Center on December 4, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
[Fairly recent poem.]
Smiley Faces
Always been a sucker
for a smile like
on my wall
la Giaconda’s sfumato
30 layers of oil paint
Leonardo’s finger
caressed into the canvas
in a soft-focus glow
like an angel of insight
I don’t believe in
so strange how smiles
now can stay sculpted
as a toothpaste ad,
frozen as an emoji
on some female faces
during long natters
over coffee or wine
admire the muscle work,
conjecture jaw cramps,
headaches, the cut-off
line to the invisible
tossing sea below the neck
that might suddenly
surge up some deep
sadness if allowed to be
has, perhaps, the lens’
tyranny been internalised,
all selfie, less self, or else
what untold pain, silent
suffering, what fear forms
the smiling mask,
depression, anxiety,
perhaps a deep wish
to please, be loved, liked,
born of a self-dislike
that’s confusing selves?
don’t know, & then again,
maybe these women really
are Bodhisattvas of bliss
blinking their inner light
of compassion, peace, joy
like freshly whitewashed
lighthouses strong among
the swells of café din
nice thought, yet the eyes
would seem to have it:
there the light seems sad,
intermittent, or snuffed
drawn, mesmerised
like a male, sceptical,
you wonder
whether you can ever
trust a mouth, including
your own
memengineering 