What do I care about beauty?
It is not beauty that comforts me
in the middle of the night.
It is not beauty that looks back at me
from the mirror every morning.
I do not glimpse anything of aesthetic value
in that pale reflection.
I see: lines ready to form, hair waiting
to fall, nose proudly proclaiming heritage.
There is: no beautiful mess, no meaningful mistake.
There is: only this jumble, this tired truth.
Beauty lurks around every corner.
It taunts me from magazines and
prints itself on the inside
of my eyelids.
It frames itself on walls and
contains itself on computer screens.
Beauty: this charming snake that wh