How to Disappear (When You Were Never Here At All)
đź’ś
Step one:
In front of the other.
Paste your mask.
On Instagram—
make it sing,
with a filter
or two.
Copy.
Just for good measure.
Smile with
your teeth.
Close your eyes.
It’ll be over soon.
Step two:
Look in the mirror.
It’s not you
at all.
Never really was.
But you already knew.
Deep down
somewhere.
It’s why you try
so hard.
Step three:
Remember when
you were last seen—
without the Face
book
you made up,
with mascara,
and a wide-eyed
wink.
Step four:
It’s not so hard—
you’ve been disappearing since birth.
They taught you how:
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“Use your indoor voice.”
“Don’t take up space.”
“Big boys don’t cry.”
And girls—
well, they just comply.
Step five:
Delete nothing.
No one’s reading anyway,
no matter what
your stats might say.
Or how you kid
yourself—
you’re someone.
With an aim.
Step six:
Toss this guidebook out.
This isn’t a vanishing act.
—A Houdini trick.
It’s just a continuation.
You don’t need a manual
for that.
You were never here
to begin with—
no matter what
your gravestone
will say.
Beloved.
Sounds hollow
on stone.
But reverberates
across the empty space
you never really were.
At all.
Tik Tok.
About the Creator
River and Celia in Underland
Mad-hap shenanigans, scrawlings, art and stuff ;)
Poetry Collection, Is this All We Get?
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By Raymond G. Taylor5 days ago in Writers
Comments (14)
Great stuff! I feel like you and I hit some of the same notes with our entries... and I'm frankly surprised I placed better than you two. You're Absolutely Awesome to the Extreme in Every Imaginable Way!!! ⚡💙 Bill⚡
Ah, I love it! Congratulations you two, you're majestic!
Fabulous!!! Congratulations on the Runner up Win!!!❤️❤️💕
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Social media steals something from our souls sometimes and really does make a part of us disappear. Congrats on Runner Up in the Challenge!
Step four, is such a sad reality, maybe it always was. But the times I watch children in the park with their parents ignoring them while their nose is glued to their phones… I am alway to see when your work gets recognized Congratulations on your placement
Wow.... the weight of this one is heavy with relatability. Well wrote, congrats on Runner-Up on the Instructions for Disappearing Challenge, C&R!!! 🎉
A powerhouse poem!!! "Use your indoor voice" hit home, and so did "And girls- well, they just comply.' Except this girl right here got sick of it all and now just does her own thing.
Damn - this was a belter. Use your indoor voice..... Gosh. I don't think it's just social media where people are fake. I think you can often be taken in by someone who pretends to be something they're not. Heart breaking when you realize. Anyway. This was EXCELLENT.
I agree with Jason, you both nailed the social media curse
Whoaaaa, this hit me so hard, especially Step four!
Oh my. This is simply fantastic. Well done, well done, well done.
You nailed social media curse. The feelings the emotional stress and false imagery of who we really are.
đź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Źđź’—Painfully relatable.