POEM: Image

As you have no doubt noticed, there have been limited posts throughout 2023. The writing hasn't stopped but my focus has been on a collection that I hope to be able to share by the end of the year. Until then I'll share a few poems each week that have been written in 2023 that are not connected to that collection. Here is a poem from April of this year, "Image".

"Image" was inspired by a photograph of Marilyn Monroe. The Cecil Beaton portrait of Monroe had me thinking about the images we project and why we create, craft and cultivate them. Are they for protection and, if so, from what? What is underneath the mask that we so desperately want to conceal? What happens when we aren't strong enough to maintain a mask or people begin to see through them? What happens to the mask when we are alone? This piece is written in four stanzas, each with their own subheading, and explores these questions. Perhaps there are no answers.

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Image

A Poem by Simon Clark

“Open your eyes and look within. Are you satisfied with the life you are living?” ― Marilyn Monroe

My Mask

Every morning it slides over my face like a protective shield,

Keeping the world from seeing the truth,

Keeping me from seeing myself.

Master of disguise or master of deceit,

Baron of Bluff and Bluster – King of conceit.

Behind My Mask

Underneath the cloak and dagger is someone I’ve struggled to love,

Agonised over who I might be,

Agonised by my reflection.

Tormented, twisted and disgusted inside,

My mask hides the tracks of the tears that I’ve cried.

Mask on Mask on Mask

My mask becomes frail so out comes the quick-fix; papier-mâché,

Layer on layer toughens my skin,

Layer it thick; keep my veneer.

Stranger within masked by the face that they know,

Insisting on distance – the price of ego.

Alone with My Mask

Every night I remove my clothes and stare, naked, at the mirror,

Exposing every vein, wrinkle, fold,

Exposing all but the veiled face.

Every night I’m shocked at the things that I see,

The image mirrored is private, just for me.

“Nothing is stranger to man than his own image.” – Karel Čapek

© Simon Clark