Could I have you for a moment?
Alone.
Just you,
without the sugar frosting,
candy coating,
fake confection outer layer,
so sweet
and so unlike what's inside:
messy,
prickly,
complicated,
sometimes wrong
and often hard to deal with,
but always
real.
I would only need a minute,
plastic wrapping shredded
on the floor,
beside the masks and feathers,
colored spangles,
cellophane,
and all the other
little things
that make you
easy to like,
hard to know,
despicable caricature
of an honest man.
I only want to hear one word,
genuine,
unscripted,
even if it's hateful,
hurtful,
angry,
full of pain.
Pain is real,
and if you feel life's sting
through foam padding
and phony smiles,
then maybe you can feel
this one thing, too:
my touch upon your hand,
reassurance
that somewhere on the inside,
in this moment,