Airbrushed

The insecure allure

Image by Ivan Babydov.

The pastel lies we tell ourselves shh
Pastiche heathen imagining
A rose by any other name yet the
NAMING unto SHAMING
Cuts at our circumspect core, naked
Bare
Blushed… bereft… convivial caprice
Confidence, the societal confidante
A beast of celeritous lynching
Of body-shaming shamelessness
The new nous NOW of neon beauty
Unchosen culled consequence of
Prefectural p-e-r-f-e-c-t-i-o-n
In unrealized, uncanny, unctuous
Edified reified realities of flamingo
Fame yet first comes a flurry of
Follower fanfare, carnation faces
Eying every entropic eMbElLiShEd
F
L
A
W
So we cleanse, we scrub, we lather
Hell, we slather panglossian products
Over pallor skin, hollow hopes (?)
Polemic prayers so ¿tone deaf¿
A paradise plethora of woe warrants
Correction
Sufficed self-loathing, a CHAGRIN
Sunset tears mirroring and miring
Guised as admiring voyeurs
Licking digital tears as they stream
Down as “they” scroll endlessly with
Dappled disregard
The perfect picture never sates, and
Artists of self-deprecation articulation
| Mute | Blind | Deafen | Insensate |
Our florid fragility, disappointment
Dissonance as hollowed context in
F
I
L
T
E
R
E
D
High-res restitution, the vagabonds
Ha, the vitriol vanities
Lace our minds with vanity sugar
Oh so (!) sweet and serotonergic (!!)
To be adored, aplomb, avaricious
Desire so delicious espouses another
Doppelgänger, arisen with every
Clichéd CLICK
So we pose in repose as fissile
Five-dimensional, Fourth-walled,
Third-eye blinded, second comings
Of the beautiful bravura myths, they
Always finish first and last.

HAIKU:
Covergirl Mavens
Idyllic fantasy harm
Concealed redux

Image by AnimGraph Lab.

© Edward Swafford 2025 - A version of Airbrushed was published in Scrittura.