Mask

• Elsie Cook, Grade 7
• Poetry
• 2022

Another day comes, filled with judgment and insecurities,
Another day wearing this mask
No one knows how hard it can be.
Images, expectations, something you can never live up to,
Slim waists, paper white teeth,
You wish that this was you.
You know that it’s not healthy,
Staring through another’s unforgiving eyes,
But you push all of these feelings away
Because you know it makes you cry.
You ignore your own hunger, until you feel sick,
“Maybe I should start eating again?”
“No, that’s not it.”
So, you continue on, day by day,
Wearing your perfect mask,
And that’s where it will stay.