Work Text:
A photograph
It’s a group of people
Smiling and laughing
As if everything was okay
That photograph doesn’t exist
And I wouldn’t be able to hang it up on a wall
With a cobbled wooden frame
we would have built in an afternoon
And I wouldn’t be able to see it
Every day in the morning
Because it doesn’t exist
I’ve seen TV
everyone looks so happy
They’re always together
They always have a friend group
A family
A clique
To rally around them
And they may fight
but they always forgive
And they may be hurt
but they’re always helped
It’s dependable
Like how you trust the ground beneath your feet
I had that
and it’s damaged
We’re all hurt
Too hurt to help each other
The photograph splinters and tears in my hands
And so I put on a brave face
I put my head down
And I try my best to hold us together
I must be the one to step up
I don’t trust anyone else to
Who would?
How could you trust someone
With something so important?
So I smile
I have to be cheerful
I can’t afford to be sad
I’m supposed to be the one you can count on
To make you smile
I would gladly burn my face off the photo
If it meant I still had a photograph at all