Cropped

That I am “spending time with kitty” is true,

and it's a lovely picture of us two—

her snuggled on my chest while I

scratch her under chin to make

her tilt her face, so neither of

our fat necks show as we

look up at my lens.

Facebook friends don't need to know

my ankle is purple and blue from

falling in a hole last Tuesday

or that it swells up big if I leave this chair

where I have it propped, under ice,

that this morning I struggled up the stairs

to find kitty’s shit on the carpet there,

and I wasn't smiling then.

I post to the world my smiles, cat cuddles,

sunny beaches, and happy group photos,

reserve injury and misery for

my family and closest friends,

pray deeper layers into dark pillows,

and wait for eternity to reveal what’s

hidden in psychic jungles I don’t enter,

depths of self I dare not apprehend.

Don’t blame Mark Zuckerman

that the faces on his book

only show one side.

This truth of human life is

older than Facebook, older than

Stevenson, Jekyll,

and Hyde.

By Laura Anella Johnson

From: United States

Website: http://laurajohnsonpoet.com

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/lauraanella67/