Letters from a still face

(free. keep it. or send it to the one whose face never moves.)

hey you.

they ask when you're fine. someone clocks the flat face across the table, asks are you okay, you are, you say so, and they don't believe you. the face said no, your voice said yes, and the two of you hold different versions of you all evening.

then there's the other day. the heavy one. the one where you'd actually say no if anyone asked. nobody does. you're quiet and still, same as always, and the day goes by without the question. concern arrives on schedule and skips the one day it was for.

so, from inside a face like ours: don't wait to be asked. on the real days, say it first, even if it comes out flat and quiet and wrong. it will feel like coughing up a rock. say it anyway.

and on the ordinary days: yep is a full answer. you don't owe anyone a show to go with their question.

you are not hard to love. you're just hard to read, and reading was never love's only door.

csenge

P.S. this is what i do. if you want one for your own person: tell me who they are and one true thing about them. the first line comes back free. [email protected]